{"id":48160,"date":"2025-04-08T10:40:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T07:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/en\/?p=48160"},"modified":"2025-04-08T10:40:54","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T07:40:54","slug":"saudi-puts-temporary-hold-on-short-term-visas-for-14-countries-ahead-of-hajj-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/en\/latest\/saudi-puts-temporary-hold-on-short-term-visas-for-14-countries-ahead-of-hajj-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Puts Temporary Hold On Short-Term Visas For 14 Countries Ahead Of Hajj Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"text-token-text-primary w-full\" dir=\"auto\" data-testid=\"conversation-turn-1201\" data-scroll-anchor=\"false\">\n<div class=\"text-base my-auto mx-auto py-5 px-6\">\n<div class=\"mx-auto flex flex-1 text-base gap-4 md:gap-5 lg:gap-6 md:max-w-3xl lg:max-w-[40rem] xl:max-w-[48rem] group\/turn-messages focus-visible:outline-hidden\">\n<div class=\"group\/conversation-turn relative flex w-full min-w-0 flex-col agent-turn @xs\/thread:px-0 @sm\/thread:px-1.5 @md\/thread:px-4\">\n<div class=\"relative flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3\">\n<div class=\"flex max-w-full flex-col grow\">\n<div class=\"min-h-8 text-message relative flex w-full flex-col items-end gap-2 text-start break-words whitespace-normal [.text-message+&amp;]:mt-5\" dir=\"auto\" data-message-author-role=\"assistant\" data-message-id=\"9451d8fb-f8a0-453b-a932-b7b64881917f\" data-message-model-slug=\"gpt-4o\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-1 empty:hidden first:pt-[3px]\">\n<div class=\"markdown prose dark:prose-invert w-full break-words dark\">\n<h2 data-start=\"850\" data-end=\"1199\">Saudi Arabia is taking early steps to ensure a smooth and safe Hajj season this year by suspending the issuance of short-term visas to 14 countries, including India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Indonesia<\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"850\" data-end=\"1199\">The temporary pause covers business, e-tourist, and family visit visas, and will come into effect on April 13, 2025.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1201\" data-end=\"1491\">This decision follows overcrowding challenges from the previous Hajj season, when many pilgrims entered using visas not meant for religious travel.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1201\" data-end=\"1491\">To prevent a repeat, Saudi authorities are tightening controls and encouraging travelers to apply only through the official Hajj visa system.<\/p>\n<h2 data-start=\"1493\" data-end=\"1663\">Valid visas can still enter!<\/h2>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-48163 \" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/08103347\/2397077.jpg\" alt=\"Saudi Puts Temporary Hold On Short-Term Visas For 14 Countries Ahead Of Hajj Season\" width=\"522\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/08103347\/2397077.jpg 600w, https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/08103347\/2397077-250x166.jpg 250w, https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/08103347\/2397077-120x80.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 522px) 100vw, 522px\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1493\" data-end=\"1663\">If you&#8217;re from one of the affected countries and already have a valid visa, don\u2019t worry \u2014 you can still enter the Kingdom before April 13 and stay until April 29.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1665\" data-end=\"1875\">Alongside this change, the Kingdom has released updated guidelines for Umrah. Pilgrims will only be able to enter from Dhu Al Hijjah 14 until Shawwal 15, and must depart by the 1st of Dhu Al Qa\u2019dah.<\/p>\n<h2 data-start=\"1877\" data-end=\"2057\">Saudi Arabia continues to emphasize the importance of using the correct visa for pilgrimage to ensure a safe and organized experience for everyone!<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia is taking early steps to ensure a smooth and safe Hajj season this year by suspending the issuance of short-term visas to 14 countries, including India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Indonesia The temporary pause covers business, e-tourist, and family visit visas, and will come into effect on April 13, 2025. This decision follows overcrowding &hellip; ","protected":false},"author":4407,"featured_media":48162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest"],"acf":{"hide_featured_image":false,"featured_image":{"ID":48162,"id":48162,"title":"Copy of article (4)","filename":"Copy-of-article-4.png","filesize":1042953,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/08103211\/Copy-of-article-4.png","link":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/en\/latest\/saudi-puts-temporary-hold-on-short-term-visas-for-14-countries-ahead-of-hajj-season\/attachment\/copy-of-article-4\/","alt":"Saudi Puts Temporary Hold On Short-Term Visas For 14 Countries Ahead Of Hajj Season","author":"4407","description":"","caption":"","name":"copy-of-article-4","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":48160,"date":"2025-04-08 07:32:10","modified":"2025-04-08 07:32:18","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1200,"height":630,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/08103211\/Copy-of-article-4-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/08103211\/Copy-of-article-4-250x131.png","medium-width":250,"medium-height":131,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/08103211\/Copy-of-article-4-768x403.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":403,"large":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/08103211\/Copy-of-article-4-700x368.png","large-width":700,"large-height":368,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/08103211\/Copy-of-article-4.png","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":630,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/08103211\/Copy-of-article-4.png","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":630,"small":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/08103211\/Copy-of-article-4-120x63.png","small-width":120,"small-height":63,"custom-size":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/08103211\/Copy-of-article-4-700x200.png","custom-size-width":700,"custom-size-height":200}},"featured_image_caption":"Saudi Puts Temporary Hold On Short-Term Visas For 14 Countries Ahead Of Hajj Season","shorten_deep_link":"https:\/\/lovin.go.link\/cEck6","ad_square_right":"","summary":"","flexible_content":false,"legacy_image":"","legacy_full_image":"","type_of_video":"Self Hosted","lovin_video_link":false,"lovin_video_link_webm":false,"video_thumbnail":false,"disable_ads":false,"slots_script_override":"","ad_horizontal_top_desktop":"","ad_vertical_left_desktop":"","ad_vertical_right_desktop":"","ad_horizontal_top_tablet":"","ad_horizontal_bottom_tablet":"","ad_horizontal_mobile_1":"","ad_horizontal_mobile_2":"","ad_horizontal_mobile_3":"","article_ad_infeed_slot":"","ad_square_podcast":"","disable_lovin_hearts":false,"lovin_heart_title":"","show_sponsor":false,"sponsor_image":false,"sponsor_name":"","sponsor_content":"","sponsor_website":"","sponsor_facebook":"","sponsor_twitter":"","sponsor_tiktok":"","sponsor_instagram":"","enable_reveal_feature":false,"reveal_image":false,"legacy_sponsor_name":"","legacy_sponsor_website":"","legacy_sponsor_content":"","legacy_sponsor_image":"","featured_for_app":false,"legacy_meta_tags":"","is_guest_user":false,"episode_number":"","embed_code":"","episode_introduction":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4407"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}