How to check for Umrah visa Penalty ? Is the penalty REMOVED?

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As Salaamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,

As you know a lot is being made out of the “Umrah Visa Penalty” levied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Saudia Arabia on the pilgrims traveling for the second time for Umrah, in the same/next Hijri or Islamic Year. Now, most of us are not friendly with the dates and months of the Islamic Hijri Calendar, so regular Umrah travelers do get confused whether they are liable to pay for this penalty or not.

Then, this penalty was being discussed for quite a long time and when it was finally confirmed by the Ministry in the year 2017. After a few months, it was taken off. And just after a few months, again it was reimposed. This further added confusion in the minds of pilgrims as well as the Umrah tour operators.

Lastly, there were a few cases where the pilgrims were wrongly charged for this penalty by some tour operators when they were actually, NOT liable to pay it. Such unfortunate malpractices by some Umrah operators further tarnish the image of all the agents associated with this industry. We hope such incidents do not take place in the future and this was the main reason for us to write this post.

Now, the question is whether the penalty is still in place or not?

Well, the answer is No. This penalty, imposed in the year October 2017 and continued in the year 2018 till Ramadan of 2019, has now been removed from the Islamic Hijri 1441, that is, September 2019. However, it has not been removed completely but instead reduced from 2000 SR earlier to 300SR now.

The penalty is of SAR 2000(Saudi Arabian Riyal) which roughly were Rs 40,000 (Indian Rupees). It was to be paid at the time of applying for Umrah visa through your Umrah Operator and Yes, you cannot apply for Umrah Visa individually. The only way to apply for it is through a ‘reliable’ Umrah Agent. We can assist all Indian passport/OCI cards/POI card holders, as well as UK citizens in getting their Umrah Visas.

Indeed, this is the best news for the people who were longing to go for Umrah but were discouraged by the heavy fees imposed by the Kingdom.

BASIC RULE[OLD]:This is what the old rule said.  If you have traveled the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia for Umrah after October 2016, you are liable to pay the penalty. You can avoid this by delaying your travel by October 2018. Basically, you can travel for Umrah only once in 2 years and that is according to the Islamic Calender. Another way is to check your passport yourself. Just check the Hijri year mentioned on Umrah visa stamped on your passport. If it is 1438, you can travel in 1440, and if it is 1439, you can travel again in 1441. But as of now, the penalty has been finally removed.

Lastly, if you are a regular Umrah traveler or you have traveled last year for Umrah and want to check if you are liable to pay this penalty, here I’m providing this link to the website. Just copy and paste this link into your browser’s address bar and follow the steps given below to check your passport’s status.

[Umrah Penalty Check ]

Steps to follow :

  1. Click on the link provided above.
  2. The website will open with the page available to check for Passport Status.
  3. Type in your Passport Number & your Nationality.
  4. Fill the ‘captcha’ provided and press ‘Enter’.
  5. Your passport status will be displayed.
  6. In case the above LINK IS NOT WORKING, just give your passport number and nationality to the customer chat box below on the right, and our customer care executive will respond with an appropriate reply.

If you were NOT liable to pay any penalty, the message displayed was something like “ There is no information regarding your passport.”

If you were liable to pay the penalty, it showed by a message telling Umrah fees of 2000 SAR to be paid.

As of now, it may take a few days to update the link but the news of reduction of Umrah penalty is confirmed. I’m also providing you the link to the news article confirming the same, that is, reduction of 2000 SAR penalty to a minor fees of 300 SAR.

Just check this link of Arab News article dated September 09, 2019:

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1551561/saudi-arabia

Another “Important News” is that the Ministry Of Hajj had also imposed a similar penalty on Hajj pilgrims who have done Hajj in the last 5 years. This means that if you have done Hajj in the year 2013 or later, then you need to pay this penalty if you are going for Hajj in the year 2018. Any updates regarding this are still pending.

But as for now, the best news for all those waiting for the Umrah penalty to be over should be happy that, though not completely removed, the penalty has been reduced by 85% to 300 SAR (approximately 5900 INR).

Hope this post will help you out.

For any further queries or questions, you can email me at jafar@atyabtravels.in.

Fi Aman Allah…


Now, the question is whether the penalty is still in place or not?
Well, the answer is No. This penalty, imposed in the year October 2017 and continued in the year 2018 till Ramadan of 2019, has now been removed from the Islamic Hijri 1441, that is, September 2019. However, it has not been removed completely but instead reduced from 2000 SR earlier to 300SR now.