The 21-year-old contested five rounds of the championship last season with Eurotek Motorsport and is hoping to make a title challenge in a full campaign with the champion team this year.
"Last year ended really well with pole at the final race and for a team that only started in June we did a really good job," Oakes told autosport.com. "Carlin have proved that they're pretty much the best F3 team in the world and that's where every driver wants to be.
"I'd tested with them before the end of last year and it's been on the cards for a while so it's nice to finally have the deal done. The goal is obviously the title and testing so far has been good, but winter testing doesn't count for much. I'm confident I can do it though."
Oakes is also looking forward to working with Volkswagen following Carlin's partnership with the manufacturer.
"There will be a little bit to adjust to with the different characteristics of the VW engine, but we just have to get out there and do the job. It's nice to have the support of a big manufacturer and with it being their first year in British F3 hopefully we can impress."
Team boss Trevor Carlin is pleased to be working with Oakes again after running him in Formula BMW in 2006.
"Oliver is a long-standing friend of the team and we've been watching his progress keenly since he drove for us in BMW," said Carlin. "I believe that with some hard work and consistency, he could be a real contender in 2009.
"He scored his first ever win with us and we hope he will play a significant part in the team's future successes."
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