Umrah Under the Nusuk Rules: Permit, Visa and the 1448 Season Calendar
The permit is free and you book it yourself. The last Umrah visa of the season is issued on 9 March 2027, so book by January.
Short answer
The permit and the visa are two different things. The Umrah permit is free and you book it yourself in the Nusuk app — it is required to enter the Grand Mosque to perform Umrah, but entering to pray needs no permit at all. The visa is a separate track, and the Saudi tourist eVisa expressly permits Umrah. For UAE residents that is the fastest route by a wide margin. If you are planning Ramadan 1448, note that the last Umrah visa of the season is issued on 9 March 2027 — the day after Ramadan ends — so book by December 2026 or early January 2027.
What confuses most pilgrims is not the system’s complexity. It is that half of what is published online dates from 2025 and has since changed. This guide separates what is confirmed by an official source from what is widely repeated but unverified.
The 1448 season calendar
These dates come from the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah and are the backbone of any plan:
| Milestone | Hijri | Gregorian |
|---|---|---|
| Visa issuance opened | 14 Dhul-Hijjah 1447 | 31 May 2026 |
| Pilgrim entry and Nusuk permits opened | 15 Dhul-Hijjah 1447 | 1 June 2026 |
| Final Umrah visa issuance | 1 Shawwal 1448 | 9 March 2027 |
| Final entry into the Kingdom | 15 Shawwal 1448 | 23 March 2027 |
| Final departure | 30 Shawwal 1448 | 7 April 2027 |
On the Umm al-Qura calendar, Ramadan 1448 begins Monday 8 February 2027 and ends around 8 March 2027, with Eid al-Fitr on Tuesday 9 March 2027. The start of the month and Eid are declared on sighting and can move by a day, and Iraq, Oman and parts of the Levant routinely differ from Saudi Arabia by a day.
Read the table again and notice what it means: the last Umrah visa of the season is issued on Eid al-Fitr itself. Anyone planning the last ten nights needs the visa settled well before that.
The permit is not the visa
The point most people get wrong
The Umrah permit is booked in the Nusuk app, is free, is tied to a specific time slot, and is required to enter the Grand Mosque to perform Umrah. Entering to pray requires no permit and can be done at any time. Only one active permit may exist per person; the next is issued once the previous expires or is cancelled.
The Rawdah permit at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah is an entirely separate booking, with its own gender-segregated time slots.
What Nusuk actually is
One name, three platforms, and conflating them causes most of the confusion:
- The Nusuk app — for the pilgrim. This is where the Umrah permit and the Rawdah permit come from.
- Nusuk Umrah (umrah.nusuk.sa) — direct booking of packages and visas without an agent.
- Nusuk Masar — the trade platform where Saudi Umrah companies and foreign external agents are qualified and contracted, and where accommodation contracts are registered. Pilgrims never touch it.
Which visa allows Umrah
| Route | Umrah permitted? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tourist eVisa | Yes | 1 year, multiple entry, 90 days total stay |
| GCC-resident eVisa | Yes | Stated explicitly as tourism or to perform Umrah |
| Umrah visa | Yes | Via an accredited agent or Nusuk directly |
| Multiple-entry Umrah visa | Yes | New since 20 July 2026 — 365 days |
| Visa on arrival | Yes — for holders of a valid US, UK or Schengen visa or residence permit | Widely reported; not re-confirmed for the 1448 season |
For UAE residents
This is the cleanest route in our entire market. UAE residents of any profession qualify for the Saudi tourist eVisa — the occupation whitelist was abolished in March 2023 — and that eVisa permits Umrah. Requirements: residence permit valid three months or more, passport valid six months or more, a fee of roughly SAR 300, and mandatory health insurance. First-degree relatives travelling with the sponsor are covered too.
For Iraqi passport holders
Here the picture is less clear and we will say so. Iraq is understood not to be on the tourist eVisa eligible-country list, but we could not load the official list to verify that, so we do not state it as fact. The realistic routes for an Iraqi passport holder are:
- An Umrah visa through a Ministry-accredited agent or directly via Nusuk — the most reliable route.
- The GCC-resident eVisa, if you hold Gulf residency. This covers a large share of Iraqis living in the UAE.
- Visa on arrival, if you hold a valid US, UK or Schengen visa or residence permit.
One practical note specific to Iraq: Iraqi authorities moved much of their pilgrim movement to overland convoys via the Arar crossing because of airspace uncertainty. Assume overland remains a live option and that air routings are fragile, and plan accordingly.
What changed since 2025
If you are reading a guide written a year ago, these four things are wrong in it:
- A multiple-entry Umrah visa launched on 20 July 2026: valid 365 days, multiple visits, 90 days cumulative stay. It requires a Nusuk service package and an Umrah permit for each trip, and does not activate during the Hajj season.
- Umrah visa issuance validity was cut from 90 days to 30 days from the date of issue — the length of stay once inside is unchanged. This inverts the old advice: do not apply early, apply close to travel. Consistent across secondary sources; we have not confirmed it against a primary one.
- No Umrah visa is issued without an accommodation contract registered on Nusuk Masar at a licensed hotel, in force since 10 June 2025.
- External-agent qualification and contracting moved entirely onto Nusuk Masar with a standardised electronic contract, from 11 May 2026. Any older description of agent accreditation is obsolete.
What Ramadan crowding actually looks like now
Ramadan 1447 (February 2026) set an all-time record: 904,000 Umrah pilgrims in a single day on 4 Ramadan — roughly double the previous record of about 500,000. Authorities responded by reserving the Mataf for Umrah performers all day, imposing one-way pedestrian routing, and diverting worshippers to nearby mosques once the Grand Mosque reached capacity.
Plan Ramadan 1448 as at least that busy. Published measures include colour-coded entrance indicators (green for space, red for full), mandatory digital permits and time-slot compliance, restrictions on private vehicles in the central zone at peak hours with outskirt parking and shuttles, and designated areas and electric Tawaf carts for elderly and disabled pilgrims.
Ramadan 1448 rules not yet published — noted 25 August 2026
In Ramadan 1444 (2023) Saudi Arabia limited pilgrims to one Umrah per person for the whole month. We found no Ministry announcement reimposing that for Ramadan 1447 or 1448, so we do not state it as a current rule. Expect it to apply again and check Nusuk nearer the time. We also found no current source on i’tikaf permit procedure for this season, so we publish none. We will update this page when the season’s rules are issued, which we expect in December 2026 or January 2027.
When to book
The binding constraint is not the visa. It is the bed. Rooms close to the Haram in the last ten nights go months ahead, and permit slots are capacity-released and go quickly. The practical order is: secure the accommodation first, then the flight, then issue the visa close to travel because of the 30-day window, then book the permit on Nusuk when slots open.
For the last ten nights of Ramadan 1448, anything booked after January 2027 is a negotiation over what is left.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a dedicated Umrah visa, or will a tourist visa do?
The tourist eVisa permits Umrah — this is stated on the official visa portal. The dedicated Umrah visa is the right route for anyone who wants a Nusuk-contracted package or who is not eVisa-eligible. We note that the Ministry of Hajj’s own FAQ and the eVisa portal are worded inconsistently on visit visas generally; we flag that rather than resolve it for you.
How much does the Umrah permit cost?
Nothing. It is free and you book it yourself in the Nusuk app. Anyone charging you for the permit itself is selling you something that is free.
Can I perform Umrah more than once during Ramadan?
We do not yet know for Ramadan 1448. The documented rule from Ramadan 2023 was one Umrah per person for the month, and we found no announcement reimposing it for this season. Plan on one, and check Nusuk when the season’s rules are published.
Can I enter the Grand Mosque to pray without a permit?
Yes. The permit is for performing Umrah, not for praying. Entry to pray is available without a permit at any time, subject to crowd-management measures during Ramadan.
When should I apply for the visa?
Close to travel, not early. Umrah visa issuance validity has been cut to around 30 days from the date of issue, which reverses the old advice. Accommodation is the opposite — book that as early as you can, because it is the real constraint.
Has the war affected Umrah?
It has affected the journey, not the rulebook. Hajj 1447 went ahead with around 1.5 million pilgrims. Iran’s quota fell to roughly 30,000 from about 90,000, Iraq moved pilgrims to overland convoys via Arar because of airspace uncertainty, and British Airways permanently ended its Jeddah service. We found no change to Umrah rules attributable to the war. Check your own government’s travel advice and your airline’s routing before booking.
We book flights and accommodation across this corridor and check live availability before confirming. Search Makkah and Madinah flights and hotels on HudHudTrip, or read our guide to Makkah and Madinah hotels by walking distance.
The HudHudTrip Travel Desk is the editorial team behind HudHudTrip.com, the Dubai booking platform operated by High Cloud Technologies LLC. We write for travellers flying out of the UAE, Iraq, the Levant and the wider Gulf. Every visa rule, holiday date and entry requirement we publish is checked against a government or embassy source before it goes live, and the verification date appears at the top of each article. Where a fact cannot be verified against a primary source, we say so on the page rather than repeat it.
