Rabat – Saudi Arabia will begin accepting applications from vaccinated pilgrims from abroad for the Umrah pilgrimage, starting Monday, August 9.
Saudi Arabia’s borders have been closed for over 18 months now, and local authorities put a limit on the number of local pilgrims able to pay a visit to the holy site of Mecca and Medina, capped at 60,000 a month.
Now, Saudi authorities have relaxed the country’s border restrictions and preventive measures to allow as many as 2 million vaccinated pilgrims a month to enter the country, according to media reports.
Besides the Umrah request, both local and overseas pilgrims will have to present the Saudi Hajj and Umrah Ministry with COVID-19 vaccination certificates before making the pilgrimage.
In addition, those travelling from countries on Saudi Arabia’s entry-ban list will have to undergo mandatory quarantine in government-approved facilities.
The ministry has extended the total capacity of pilgrims to up to 60,000 a day, 2 million a month, with no fixed cap for pilgrims this year, according to Haramain Sharifain, the official Twitter account of the “Inside the Haramain,” the largest English-language resource on the Hajj and Umrah.
Minors are not allowed to enter the holy site. Any booking for the Umrah, the Ziyarahm and Prayers at Rawdah and Masjid Al Haram must be made through the Eatmarna or Tawakalana, according to the same source.
Umrah is the smaller of the two pilgrimages, which, unlike the annual Hajj, can be done at any time of the year. In Arabic, “Umrah” means “visiting a populated place,” and it offers Muslims an opportunity to reaffirm their fate. Unlike the Hajj, Umrah is not one of the Five Pillars of Islam, and while it is encouraged, it is not compulsory.
