Umrah Visa 2026-27 from Pakistan, India and Nigeria: Licensed Agents, Nusuk and the 30-Day Rule

Umrah season 1448 AH is open. The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah began issuing visas on 31 May 2026, pilgrims have been entering Makkah since 1 June, and the season runs through the winter to a final departure date of 7 April 2027. Between now and then fall Rabi al-Awwal, the school holidays, and Ramadan - the most sought-after and most expensive weeks of the year.

For pilgrims from Pakistan, India and Nigeria - three of the largest Umrah markets - the process is not the "apply online in ten minutes" route that Saudi Arabia advertises to Western passports. Your application goes through a licensed operator, the visa has a short fuse once issued, and the market is dense with agents who are not licensed at all. This guide explains the system as it stands in September 2026.

Who applies how: the agent-only route

Saudi Arabia runs two channels for Umrah visas.

Nationals of the countries on its e-visa list (the UK, US, EU states, Australia and others) can apply themselves on the Nusuk platform or perform Umrah on a tourist e-visa outside the Hajj window.

Nationals of countries not on that list, which includes Pakistan, India, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Egypt among others, apply through an Umrah operator licensed by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah. The operator holds a contract with a Saudi Umrah services company and lodges your application on the Ministry's back-end platform, Nusuk Masar, together with a booked package covering accommodation and ground transport. The visa is generated from that booking; there is no visa without a package attached.

After the visa is issued, you use the public Nusuk app yourself for the Umrah permit, Rawdah appointments and other services. The two systems are related but distinct: Masar is for operators, Nusuk is for pilgrims.

This is why "Umrah visa only, no package" offers advertised in Karachi, Hyderabad or Kano need careful reading. A licensed operator can sell a minimal package with basic accommodation, but it cannot lawfully issue a visa detached from a Masar booking.

The 30-day entry rule

The change that has caught the most pilgrims out arrived in late 2025. Under regulations that took effect in early November 2025, an Umrah visa is valid for entry within 30 days of issuance, down from 90. If you have not entered the Kingdom within that window the visa is automatically cancelled.

Two consequences:

• Timing is now the operator's job as much as yours. A visa issued in early September for a flight in mid-October is dead on arrival. Ask your operator to lodge the application so that issuance falls two to three weeks before departure, not two months.
• The 30 days govern entry, not stay. Once inside Saudi Arabia, the permitted stay remains up to 90 days, subject to the season's closing dates.

Pakistani pilgrims in particular, who often book flights months ahead through group operators, should confirm in writing when the operator intends to submit.

The one-year multiple-entry Umrah visa

On 20 July 2026 the Ministry announced a multiple-entry Umrah visa valid for 365 days from issuance, reported by the Saudi Press Agency and The National. Its terms:

• Multiple entries within the year, with a cumulative stay of up to 90 days.
• For each visit, the pilgrim must buy a service package from an approved provider on Nusuk, with a duration no longer than the days remaining on the visa.
• An Umrah permit through the Nusuk app must be issued before each arrival.
• The visa is deactivated on departure and reactivated for the next visit once the package and permit conditions are met.
• It is not active during the Hajj season, from 1 Dhu al-Qi'dah to 13 Dhu al-Hijjah.

What the announcement does not say is which nationalities can obtain it, or whether the agent channel can issue it. For Pakistani, Indian and Nigerian pilgrims who visit more than once a year, it is worth asking a licensed operator directly; do not plan around it until an operator confirms it can be issued for your passport.

Season calendar 1448 AH

The dates come from the Ministry's calendar announced on 17 May 2026. Ramadan dates are astronomical estimates; the Saudi Supreme Court confirms the start by moon sighting.

Practically, the season divides into three bands. September to November is the quieter, lower-cost stretch after the Rabi al-Awwal peak. December to January fills with school holidays. Ramadan is the most crowded and expensive, with operators in all three countries opening Ramadan packages by October and the better hotel inventory gone well before the year ends. If Ramadan is the goal, book by November and expect prices two to three times the autumn rate.

Women, families and mahram

Saudi Arabia dropped the mahram requirement for women performing Hajj and Umrah in 2021. Women aged 18 and over apply and travel without a male guardian. Many operators in Pakistan and India run women-only or family groups, which some pilgrims prefer, but it is a choice, not a rule. Minors must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, and operators will ask for a birth certificate or family registration document (NADRA family certificate in Pakistan, for instance) for children.

Vaccination requirements

The Saudi Ministry of Health publishes the health requirements for pilgrims. Operators check the certificates before lodging the visa, and Saudi port health can refuse entry without them.

Meningococcal ACWY - everyone. A quadrivalent conjugate vaccine received within the last five years, or a polysaccharide vaccine within the last three, in either case at least 10 days before arrival. The certificate must name the vaccine and date; if the type is not stated, it is treated as valid for three years only.

Polio - Pakistan and Nigeria. The Ministry's published list requires travellers arriving from Pakistan (a wild poliovirus country) and from Nigeria (on the vaccine-derived poliovirus list) to have received at least one dose of oral or inactivated polio vaccine, recorded on the International Certificate of Vaccination. The Ministry recommends the dose be within the previous 12 months and at least four weeks before arrival. Pakistan's own airports administer polio drops and issue the certificate to departing travellers; Nigerian pilgrims obtain it through state health authorities or NAHCON-approved centres.

Yellow fever - Nigeria. Travellers from Nigeria must also carry a valid yellow fever certificate, which is valid for life from 10 days after vaccination.

India has no polio or yellow fever requirement for direct travellers; ACWY applies.

What it costs

There is no single official price for the agent route, and any operator quoting "the government fee" as a fixed figure is simplifying. Reported components, per operators and industry summaries in 2026:

On top of that, operators report visa-only prices in the region of PKR 48,000-65,000 in Pakistan and INR 12,500-16,000 in India. Nigerian operators rarely sell visa-only; full packages with flights are quoted from around NGN 2.5 million for a budget group and several times that for a family in Ramadan. Complete packages in Pakistan span roughly PKR 220,000 to 500,000 and more depending on hotel category, season and flight routing.

None of these figures is fixed, and all move with exchange rates and season. Get a written, itemised quote and check it against at least one other licensed operator.

Avoiding fake agents

The Umrah market has a fraud problem the Saudi authorities themselves acknowledge. In February 2026 the Ministry suspended 1,800 of roughly 5,800 contracted operators for service failures, halting new visa issuance through them until they fixed the deficiencies. Unlicensed "agents" - often sub-agents of sub-agents - are a separate and larger problem, particularly in Pakistan and Nigeria, where pilgrims have paid in full and received nothing.

Checks that take ten minutes:

1. 1Ask for the operator's Ministry licence number and the name of the Saudi Umrah services company it contracts with. Legitimate operators produce both without hesitation.
2. 2Check the national register. Pakistan's Ministry of Religious Affairs publishes enrolled Umrah operators; Nigeria's NAHCON licenses tour operators; India's Ministry of Minority Affairs and state Haj committees list registered operators.
3. 3Insist the visa is issued in your name on Nusuk Masar and that you can see it in the Nusuk app before you pay the balance.
4. 4Pay to the company, not an individual, by a traceable method. Cash to a "representative" is the most common pattern in fraud complaints.
5. 5Be sceptical of visa-only offers at prices below the government components listed above. The maths does not work.

Overstaying: the risk is not worth it

The final departure date for Umrah visa holders is 7 April 2027, and individual stays are capped at 90 days. Overstaying an Umrah visa brings fines, deportation and re-entry bans, and during the Hajj window the penalties escalate - in 2026 the authorities publicised SAR 20,000 fines and 10-year bans for anyone found in Makkah without a Hajj permit after the Umrah cut-off. Our record of the Hajj 2026 restrictions shows how strictly the window was policed; expect the same pattern ahead of Hajj 2027.

Operators are also sanctioned when their pilgrims overstay, which is why reputable ones ask for a return ticket before lodging the visa.

Key takeaways

• Pakistani, Indian and Nigerian pilgrims apply through a licensed operator on Nusuk Masar, with a package; there is no self-service route yet.
• The visa is valid for entry for 30 days from issue; time issuance to your flight.
• A one-year multiple-entry Umrah visa exists since July 2026, but confirm with an operator that it can be issued for your passport.
• Season 1448 closes with last issuance 9 March, last entry 23 March and final departure 7 April 2027.
• ACWY for everyone; polio for Pakistan and Nigeria; yellow fever for Nigeria.
• Fees are operator-set; the ranges above are reported, not fixed.
• Verify the licence, see the visa in Nusuk before paying the balance, and do not overstay.

The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah changes rules between and within seasons. Confirm anything you are relying on with your operator and on haj.gov.sa before you pay.