Most pilgrim overstayers are from Egypt, Iran and Pakistan

There have been 4,921 Umrah overstayers from 44 countries recorded in the country this year, according to statistics released by the National Committee for Haj and Umrah recently. Topping the list is Egypt with 952 people, followed by Iran with 718 and Pakistan with 600. The data was compiled from the schedules of Umrah service providers.
Indonesia ranked fourth on the list with 382 Umrah pilgrims, then Turkey with 324 people, and Jordan and India with 271 and 209 people respectively. The list included pilgrims from Algeria, Yemen, Bangladesh, Iraq and Malaysia with more than 100 pilgrims staying over from each country.
However, the committee said all the nationals of the 29 countries listed returned to their countries, without any involvement in criminal activity.
Those who complied with regulations and returned home were from countries with Muslim minorities including Greece, Denmark, Spain, Norway, Australia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Japan, Portugal, Ireland, Canada, and a few other Asian and African countries.
Osama Filali, head of the committee, told a local newspaper that those who stayed over are not violators until the Umrah season is over in August. “The committee will conduct a survey on the number of Umrah overstayers when the season comes to an end.”
Spokesman of the Passports Department, Brig. Bader Al-Malik, said action would be taken against violators of labor and iqama regulations. However, he said the numbers were much less than last year when 11,000 Umrah and 6,000 Haj pilgrims overstayed their visas.
Nawaf Al-Bouq, spokesman of Jeddah Police, said three campaigns had been launched in the city recently to track down residency violators.