The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has announced that holders of all types of entry visas will be allowed to perform umrah, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). Saudi Arabia is all set to remove restrictions and allow overseas Muslims to come to the country to perform Umrah or lesser pilgrimage.
According to the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, pilgrims coming from outside the Kingdom have to book an appointment to perform Umrah through the Eatmarna app.
Ministry has set three steps for booking an Umrah appointment:
- Obtain an entry visa to the Kingdom
- Ensure its validity period when registering
- Book an appointment on the app
Most importantly, any Umrah pilgrims found without the necessary permit will be fined SR10,000, the public security warned on Saturday. The public security also said that the permits of pilgrims would be checked in the Tawakkalna application by matching it with the national identity, residence, passport number or border number. Also, it will be compared with the date specified for performing the Umrah that was chosen in the permit.
The Ministry of Interior and the public security have stressed that those arriving in the country to perform Umrah need to get the permit issued through Tawakkalna or Eatamarna apps.
It is important to note that the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has announced earlier that there is no need for obtaining a permit and taking an appointment to perform prayer at the Grand Mosque in Makkah, however, it is still a must to perform Umrah and pray at Al-Rawdah Sharifa.
The ministry said the Umrah permit will be automatically cancelled in the event of not entering the Kingdom within a maximum of six hours of booking the appointment.
The Ministry has restricted the minimum age for issuing permits to perform Umrah and pray at Al-Rawdah Sharifa to only those children who are 5 years old and above.
People who have not received COVID-19 vaccines or who have not completed immunization can perform Umrah and enter the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque, provided they have not been infected with Coronavirus or have not been in contact with people who have been confirmed to be infected with the virus.
The ministry added that if the applicant turned out to be infected with COVID-19 or has been in contact with an infected person, the Umrah permit will be automatically cancelled.
Authorities of the country have recently eased measures for performing Umrah as it, on March 5, relaxed most restrictions against COVID-19. This included scrapping social distancing among worshippers at the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque. Still, worshippers are required to wear face masks.
Also, there’s no need to register immunization information for pilgrims coming from outside the Kingdom to obtain an Umrah permit.
