KARACHI: The Saudi Embassy has announced that Pakistani umrah aspirants will have to undergo a biometric verification starting December, before they can apply for umrah visas.
According to the embassy, this would provide relief to the pilgrims as they would no longer have to wait in long queues at Jeddah airport.
The responsible company for conducting biometric verification has already started taking fingerprints of umrah aspirants.
On November 1, it was announced that all Pakistani umrah aspirants will have to get themselves verified first.
A delegation of travel agents had earlier demanded of Pakistani authorities to take up this new policy with the Saudi government. The new policy would add to umrah applicants’ inconvenience since they would have to travel long distances to get to the centres providing biometric verification services besides having to pay high fees for the service, said the delegation at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday.
