Umrah pilgrims can get three-month stay: Riyadh

TASHKENT: Saudi Arabia’s Minister for Haj and Umrah Dr Tawfiq Al-Rabiah announced on Monday that the Umrah visa has been extended from one to three months for all pilgrims of all nationalities.

He made this announcement in Tashkent during his two-day official visit to Uzbekistan, Saudi Gazette reported. Al-Rabiah said that Umrah pilgrims coming to Saudi Arabia will now be able to stay in the kingdom for three months. Issuance of Umrah and pilgrimage visas has been made easier through the online platform ‘Nusuk’, he added. The new service was launched in November last year to facilitate overseas pilgrims in getting Umrah and visit permits for Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madina through mobile applications.

“In cooperation with Saudi Data & Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), the Ministry of Haj and Umrah announced the launch of a new service that allows overseas pilgrims to get permits for Umrah and prayer in the Grand Mosque, as well as for visiting the Prophet’s Mosque through ‘Eatmarna’ and ‘Tawakkalna’ Applications, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said in a statement.

The ministry said that the service will be effective through the applications just after registering on the Saudi “Quddum” platform, it added. The ministry urged all users of Eatmarna and Tawakkalna applications to take the initiative and update the two applications on their mobile app stores.