Saudi Arabia has changed its visa policies in view of Hajj, which will affect 14 countries including India. Saudi Arabia has suspended multiple visa entry indefinitely. This change has been made in view of Hajj.
Saudi Arabia has changed its visa rules, which will affect 14 countries including India. The changed visa rules have come into effect from February 1, 2025, under which passengers coming from these countries will get only single entry visa to enter the Kingdom. Saudi has changed its visa rules so that people coming to the country with long-term visas cannot perform Hajj pilgrimage unauthorizedly.
People who have multiple entry visas of Saudi Arabia perform Hajj without Hajj permits, which increases the crowd in the holy city of Mecca. This increases the headache of Saudi authorities.
A single entry visa allows a person to enter a country only once, while a multiple entry visa is a long term visa that allows the visa holder to visit that country multiple times.
Which 14 countries will be affected
The 14 countries that will be affected by the change in Saudi Arabia’s visa rules are Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen.
Saudi Arabia has indefinitely suspended one-year multiple-entry visas for people coming from these countries for tourism, business and to visit family, as part of changes to its visa rules.
All these 14 countries are the countries from where most of the people go to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia for Hajj or Umrah.
Major changes in Saudi visa policy-
As per the changed rules, tourists coming from the affected countries can only apply for a single entry visa. This visa will be valid for 30 days and tourists can stay in Saudi for a maximum of 30 days. However, Hajj, Umrah, diplomatic and residence visas will not be affected by this change.
Saudi officials say that multiple visa entries were being misused. Some travellers were coming to the country on long-term visas and later staying for unauthorized periods to perform Hajj or work in Saudi Arabia.
Steps had to be taken in view of the crowd in Haj
Saudi Arabia takes strict measures to control overcrowding in Hajj. For this purpose, it has fixed Hajj quota for every country. Whatever quota a country gets, that many Muslims from that country go to Mecca for Hajj every year.
In recent years, overcrowding in Mecca during Hajj has been a major problem as many people go for Hajj without a Hajj permit. Last year, more than 1,200 pilgrims died during Hajj due to the scorching sun and heat. Most of those who died were unauthorized Hajj pilgrims who, due to lack of permits, could not take advantage of the Hajj preparations made by the Saudi government and died due to the heat.
Saudi Arabia was criticized a lot due to the death of such a large number of pilgrims, in view of which the Kingdom has started preparations to prevent any such accident in this year’s Haj. In this sequence, multiple entry visas have been suspended to stop unauthorized pilgrims during Haj.
The Saudi government hopes that the change in visa rules will allow only authorized pilgrims to perform Hajj, which will reduce the crowds in the city and everyone will be able to take advantage of the arrangements made to escape the heat.
Saudi authorities have described the suspension of multiple-entry visas as temporary. It is not yet clear how long this suspension will continue.
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