Ismail Simjee
19-08-07, 04:39 PM
I believe the information may be useful for members. I will post a separate HAJ LICENSE nest InshaAllah.
The Umrah and Haj Licenses – How it works.
UMRAH.
The Ministry of Hajj, in association with Chamber of Commerce and Foreign Office in Saudi Arabia approves central contracts for Saudi based and Saudi owned companies.
There are currently around 130 companies regsistered and licensed by Chamber of Commerce and by Ministry of Haj. They are called UO.
The Foreign Office and Ministry of Haj has a combined centralised organisation called
SEJEL. The remit for this company is to manage several independent contractors charged with operating electronic means to accept , process and issue visa approvals.
Names of such companies are; Bab-al-Umra; Tawaf; Way to Umra; Nesma; Gama and so on. They generate MOFA which is an electronic visa approval once set criteria by ministry of haj and foreign office is satisfied by the overseas agents who apply for the same.
The function of UO is to subsequently enter into contracts with Umra operators all over the world and there is no limit for them how many they can contract. The overseas based operator is called EA.
The EA has to have an IATA membership, must be registered as a Trading Company in his country and must provide a Bankers Guarantee or Bond of SR100,000.
Some UOs, at the bottom of the financial strength, simply offer MOFA service through SEJEL and one of the electronic agents they contract with. Others with financial muscles also offer transport service and hotels.
Each time an EA accepts pilgrims from their base country eg. Myself from UK (I cannot offer service to anyone outside EEC) he enters the passport data onto the electronic system using one of the companies above. This information is automatically transmitted to Foreign office, the UO and the SEJEL.
The EA has set packages logged permanently with SEJEL and UO. This determines the duration of stay for the pilgrim, the date of his arrival and departure and the names of the hotel he will be staying. A deposit is either paid or deducted automatically from his account equalling Saudi Riyal 650 per person for all pilgrims irrespective of age. This deposit is returned once the pilgrim arrives in Saudi Arabia, to the UO. The UO deducts appropriate fee as per the package offered to pilgrims by the EA from the EA’s account.
The UO subsequently makes payment for the MOFA at a prescribed bank. The bank informs SEJEL of the receipt of money. SEJEL generates approval to the electronic company. The electronic company generate a mofa which is transmitted to the UO, the Foreign Office, the EA and the EA country’s based Saudi Consulate.
When the EA receives the MOFA he prepares an Umra Visa application form. The pilgrim’s photograph is scanned and loaded on floppy disk along with the MOFA number. The MOFA number is entered on the visa form and submitted to the Saudi consulate on Mondays and Tuesday s only.
The Saudi consulate subsequently enters the mofa number onto their own system which has already received the data from SEJEL directly. It combines that data with the photograph of the pilgrim and prints out a visa which is adhered into the pilgrim’s passport and which is returned to the EA on Thursday or Friday.
The Consulate occasionally query the visa application if names do not match or overseas visitors passports are submitted for umra visa which is not allowed.
The original MOFA is valid for conversaion into a visa within 10 working days of its issue. The Visa issued by the consulate is valid for 30 days of HIJRA month to be utilised and the pilgrim to arrive into Jeddah within that period.
The immigration officer enters the visa detail which matches up with the MOFA details and shows to him how long that pilgrim’s visit is for. The immigration officer then issues a number on the passport but does not write the duration of the visit.
This information is logged on the SEJEL. The pilgrim is expected to leave within his package period or 28 days after entering Saudia whichever is first. If he does not leave, the UO gets notified by the SEJEL that they have “RUNNERS”. If the total percentage of the runners reach 2% SEJEL shuts down the EA’s entry system until his pilgrims exit.
If the total exceeds 4% the EA is blacklisted and could be banned from acquiring a renewal of his Umra License.
Currently in UK there are around 35 licensed Umra Agents.
The conditions that the EA must meet is that he must ensure that his pilgrims are aware of the Saudi Umra Laws. That they must have a package stating clearly the names of the hotels they will be staying at, the duration of their stay and transportation arrangement made for them. An Umra Visa only can be issued in particular instances only.
The Umrah and Haj Licenses – How it works.
UMRAH.
The Ministry of Hajj, in association with Chamber of Commerce and Foreign Office in Saudi Arabia approves central contracts for Saudi based and Saudi owned companies.
There are currently around 130 companies regsistered and licensed by Chamber of Commerce and by Ministry of Haj. They are called UO.
The Foreign Office and Ministry of Haj has a combined centralised organisation called
SEJEL. The remit for this company is to manage several independent contractors charged with operating electronic means to accept , process and issue visa approvals.
Names of such companies are; Bab-al-Umra; Tawaf; Way to Umra; Nesma; Gama and so on. They generate MOFA which is an electronic visa approval once set criteria by ministry of haj and foreign office is satisfied by the overseas agents who apply for the same.
The function of UO is to subsequently enter into contracts with Umra operators all over the world and there is no limit for them how many they can contract. The overseas based operator is called EA.
The EA has to have an IATA membership, must be registered as a Trading Company in his country and must provide a Bankers Guarantee or Bond of SR100,000.
Some UOs, at the bottom of the financial strength, simply offer MOFA service through SEJEL and one of the electronic agents they contract with. Others with financial muscles also offer transport service and hotels.
Each time an EA accepts pilgrims from their base country eg. Myself from UK (I cannot offer service to anyone outside EEC) he enters the passport data onto the electronic system using one of the companies above. This information is automatically transmitted to Foreign office, the UO and the SEJEL.
The EA has set packages logged permanently with SEJEL and UO. This determines the duration of stay for the pilgrim, the date of his arrival and departure and the names of the hotel he will be staying. A deposit is either paid or deducted automatically from his account equalling Saudi Riyal 650 per person for all pilgrims irrespective of age. This deposit is returned once the pilgrim arrives in Saudi Arabia, to the UO. The UO deducts appropriate fee as per the package offered to pilgrims by the EA from the EA’s account.
The UO subsequently makes payment for the MOFA at a prescribed bank. The bank informs SEJEL of the receipt of money. SEJEL generates approval to the electronic company. The electronic company generate a mofa which is transmitted to the UO, the Foreign Office, the EA and the EA country’s based Saudi Consulate.
When the EA receives the MOFA he prepares an Umra Visa application form. The pilgrim’s photograph is scanned and loaded on floppy disk along with the MOFA number. The MOFA number is entered on the visa form and submitted to the Saudi consulate on Mondays and Tuesday s only.
The Saudi consulate subsequently enters the mofa number onto their own system which has already received the data from SEJEL directly. It combines that data with the photograph of the pilgrim and prints out a visa which is adhered into the pilgrim’s passport and which is returned to the EA on Thursday or Friday.
The Consulate occasionally query the visa application if names do not match or overseas visitors passports are submitted for umra visa which is not allowed.
The original MOFA is valid for conversaion into a visa within 10 working days of its issue. The Visa issued by the consulate is valid for 30 days of HIJRA month to be utilised and the pilgrim to arrive into Jeddah within that period.
The immigration officer enters the visa detail which matches up with the MOFA details and shows to him how long that pilgrim’s visit is for. The immigration officer then issues a number on the passport but does not write the duration of the visit.
This information is logged on the SEJEL. The pilgrim is expected to leave within his package period or 28 days after entering Saudia whichever is first. If he does not leave, the UO gets notified by the SEJEL that they have “RUNNERS”. If the total percentage of the runners reach 2% SEJEL shuts down the EA’s entry system until his pilgrims exit.
If the total exceeds 4% the EA is blacklisted and could be banned from acquiring a renewal of his Umra License.
Currently in UK there are around 35 licensed Umra Agents.
The conditions that the EA must meet is that he must ensure that his pilgrims are aware of the Saudi Umra Laws. That they must have a package stating clearly the names of the hotels they will be staying at, the duration of their stay and transportation arrangement made for them. An Umra Visa only can be issued in particular instances only.