Umrah entry visas now valid for one month instead of three from issuance date.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has reduced the validity period for Umrah entry visas from three months to one month from issuance date, though the permitted stay duration remains unchanged at three months after arrival.
The new regulations take effect next week (November 1, 2025) amid a record-breaking Umrah season that has already seen over four million visas issued to foreign pilgrims.
Under the updated system, Umrah visas will automatically cancel if pilgrims fail to enter Saudi Arabia within 30 days of issuance.
The three-month allowance for staying in the Kingdom after arrival remains unaffected, preserving pilgrims’ flexibility once they enter the country.
Ahmed Bajaeifer, advisor at the National Committee for Umrah and Visit, confirmed the changes to prepare for expected pilgrim increases following summer’s end and cooler temperatures in Mecca and Medina.
The current Umrah season, beginning in early June, has achieved unprecedented numbers with four million foreign pilgrims arriving within just five months. This volume surpasses previous full-season totals, demonstrating growing global demand for Umrah pilgrimage opportunities.
This was the result of the state policy pursued by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev aimed at preserving, studying and popularizing the national cultural heritage.


The UNESCO World Heritage List includes: the Jemchug Residential Building, the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan, the Peoples’ Friendship Palace, the State Museum of Art of Uzbekistan, the Tashkent State Circus building, the Central Exhibition Hall of the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan, the National Palace of Cinema of Uzbekistan, the Chorsu market, the Cosmonauts metro station, and the Sun Heliocomplex.
These monuments represent a harmonious blend of modernist ideas and Central Asian architectural traditions.


Gayane Umerova, Chairman of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation and Chairman of the National Commission for UNESCO, stressed that the inclusion of these sites in the World Heritage List returns an important part of the modern architectural history of Uzbekistan to the international context of the heritage of the 20th century and the world modernist movement, and also imposes a long-term responsibility to preserve these buildings with maximum professional care, to ensure their integral role in the life of the city and to pass on knowledge about them to future generations.
B. Khudoyberdiyev, UzA