Saudi Arabia starts issuing Umrah visas for Pakistani pilgrims

The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has announced it is now issuing Umrah visas for Pakistani pilgrims.

According to the notification, Umrah visas are will be issued for Pakistan, India and Egypt and intending pilgrims from these countries can now enter the kingdom directly.

Pilgrims who have had both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine will be exempt from quarantine, but single-dose pilgrims have to stay in quarantine for five days.

People who do not need to undertake quarantine are those who are completely vaccinated with two doses of Pfizer, Moderna, BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Covishield, SK, Bioscience or one dose of Johnson & Johnson, the ministry said.

Two doses of either Sinopharm or Sinovac with an additional jab from any one of the above vaccines will also not necessitate quarantine.

However, those who are vaccinated with two doses of Sinopharm, Sinovac and Covaxin will have to quarantine three days and take a PCR test 48 hours after arriving in the kingdom.

Earlier on, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah had limited Umrah permits for overseas Muslims to those aged between 18 and 50 years.