MADINAH — The Passports Office at Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah welcomed on Saturday Iranian pilgrims, running their entry procedures smoothly. The General Directorate of Passports declared its readiness to efficiently handle the procedures pilgrims need to carry out during the Hajj season of 1444 AH (2023) at international airports, land borders, and seaports. It reaffirmed its commitment to utilize all available resources to facilitate the entry of pilgrims, including the state-of-the-art technological devices to streamline operations. Millions of pilgrims will stream to Saudi Arabia from all corners of the globe over the coming weeks for the first full capacity Hajj season after the breakout of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The first batches of foreign pilgrims arrived in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah on Sunday, Dhul Qada 1, corresponding to May 22, which marks the beginning of the annual Hajj pilgrimage season. The pilgrims who arrived in the Kingdom on Sunday included those who came from Malaysia and Bangladesh under the 'Makkah Route' initiative while the first groups of pilgrims from India arrived on board the scheduled flights in Madinah on Sunday. Foreign pilgrims were not allowed to perform Hajj during the Hajj seasons of 2020 and 2021 when the annual pilgrimage was restricted to limited number of domestic pilgrims and that was under strict COVID-19 preventive protocols and restrictions. Foreign pilgrims were allowed in limited capacity during the Hajj of 2022 under certain restrictions, including age.
