JEDDAH, 6 September 2006 — Umrah companies yesterday alleged that some of their overseas counterparts are not complying with the new Umrah regulations issued by the Saudi authorities.
“If they don’t cooperate with us then the problem of overstayers among Umrah pilgrims may continue,” said the spokesman for a local Umrah firm.
“Foreign agents from certain countries have shown least interest in abiding by the new regulations and their continued non-cooperation will only aggravate the problem of overstayers,” said Adel Shoukri, an agent.
The new regulations envisage that Umrah visas should not be issued to individuals under 40 years of age who come alone from countries including India, Pakistan and Egypt.
The decision was taken as a large number of pilgrims have overstayed after performing Umrah, according to a report attributed to Adil Balkhair, the assistant deputy minister for Umrah affairs.
Balkhair said the decision was taken in the light of a study of the pattern of Umrah pilgrim arrivals and departures over the past years. The new rule was adopted after consulting all concerned parties. However, those under 40 years can come with their families or with organized legal groups.
“It became clear to us that some are using Umrah as an excuse to overstay and become illegal workers,” he said.
The Ministry of Haj has in a recent announcement said that the number of overstaying Umrah pilgrims from a country will be deducted from its quota of Haj pilgrims. This is being done to discourage the pilgrims from staying beyond the validity of their visas.
At the same time, Umrah operators here fear that the new regulations may result in a decline in the number of arrivals for the Umrah season. “We expect a 20 percent drop in the number of Umrah arrivals during Ramadan as many overseas firms have canceled the tour plan due to the new regulations,” said the manager of a major Umrah firm.
Age restrictions will discourage all those below 40 years to come for Umrah and, secondly, pilgrims will not be allowed to travel to tourist destinations beyond the limits of Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah.
“The stipulation that pilgrims will have to get official approval for traveling to destinations outside the two holy cities and Jeddah will be counterproductive due to the difficulty of getting such approvals,” said a source at another major Umrah company.
Some of the unscrupulous Umrah operators from abroad have been sending groups of pilgrims totally disregarding the new regulations and bilateral agreements. “This has created a lot of problems for local Umrah agents as they are unable to provide logistics and make arrangements for the increased number of incoming pilgrims,” Adil Rouzi, manager at Alwasait for Umrah Services, told Al-Watan newspaper.
Atif Kada of Alsuwaidan Umrah Service Company said the practice among some pilgrims to stay illegally should be put to an end. “Even those below 40 years coming with their families may overstay after performing Umrah,” he added.
Some local Umrah agents have already canceled their dealings with overseas operators for various reasons. “Some of the agents from the Arab-African region and the Indian Subcontinent have not been providing proper service to the pilgrims and have just been sending pilgrims in a bid to make money,” said Abdul Aziz Zafrani, manager of Wael Jamjoom for Umrah Services.
A Hajeej Travel management executive said that his experience showed that a majority of pilgrims were genuinely interested in visiting tourist places like Taif, Baha and Abha. “The new regulations, however, make such visits difficult,” he added.
