340,000 Algerians Perform Umrah Despite Austerity

Director of Information at the level of the Office of Hajj and Umrah, Moustafa Hidaoui, revealed on a significant rise in the number of Algerians who are registered for the Umrah season in Ramadan of this year, reaching 50%, and the number of pilgrims reached, since the start of the season in December, over 340,000 Algerians, compared with a quarter of a million Algerians last year, and 22.000 pilgrims who will receive their documents soon, bringing the final number to 362.000 pilgrims.

He told Echorouk that the number of Algerian pilgrims of this year rises by more than 100,000 this year, as Algeria ranks second in the Arab world and the fifth worldwide, in the rate of performing Umrah, and attributed this to the tight coordination between the office that is represented by the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Algeria.

“Saudi Ministry of Hajj will continue to work until 15 of current Ramadan, for the issuance of approvals, as the Saudi consulate continues approvals until the end of Ramadan.”

“Approvals are delivered for applicants within 24 hours at the latest estimate, and 22.000 approvals that ready at the level of the Saudi Ministry of Hajj, that will be approved in the second week of Ramadan, knowing that the embassy will continue to gave visas until the end of Ramadan 2016, as the productivity rate reached from 3,000 to 5,000 visas a day, knowing that the consulate receives every day 256 agencies, in two periods a day, and the work of two days is completed in one day, and all the visas are received at the consulate, approved them and re-delivered them to the agencies on the same day, despite the large number of applicants.

Representative of the Office of Hajj and Umrah, added that despite that the Algerians are considered the second Arab people that perform Ramadan Umrah in terms of numbers, but they are at least in terms of problems and in the violation of the regulations in the Kingdom.