Qatar-based Muslims planning to perform Haj must submit an online application as a first step
Qatar-based Muslims planning to perform Haj (pilgrimage) this year must submit an online application as a first step, officials have said.
The online registration with the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs is starting on Sunday and applicants should log onto the website www.hajj.gov.qa to fill in the details.
Quoting Ali bin Mubarak Al Fihami, Acting Director of Haj and Umrah at the ministry, Qatar News Agency (QNA) said that the registration process will close on September 8.
“Applicants need not register with Haj operators this year (1431 Hijri). They can instead register with us online,” Al Fihami said. “Once the list of successful applicants is issued, they can then choose their Haj operator.”
The move breaks with the earlier practice of the ministry designating Haj operators for would-be pilgrims and now allows them to choose their own operators and sign contracts with them.
No foreigner is allowed to go to Haj without an operator approved by the ministry.
According to the conditions, applicants submitting requests to go for Haj should have been based in Qatar for at least three years and must not have performed Haj in the past five years.
They must hold a valid residency permit issued by Qatar to be able to apply for a Saudi visa.
Applicants must also submit either a no-objection certificate from their sponsor or a leave certificate. Women accompanying men must submit proof of their relationship, the ministry said.
Chip cards will for the first time be given to would-be pilgrims as part of a tracking system and they will not be able to cross security checkpoints in Saudi Arabia without them.
In Bahrain and Kuwait, would-be pilgrims must register with a Haj operator endorsed by the local authorities.
In Kuwait, some operators are designated by the ministry to take in only Kuwaitis who do not need visas from Saudi Arabia to enter the country. Expatriates, mainly those travelling over land, should be registered with operators on a special list issued by the ministry.
Bahrain is increasingly following the tendency to have Bahrainis-only buses in order to avoid long queues at the King Fahad Causeway, the terrestrial link with Saudi Arabia, where the processing of papers of non Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nationals can take several hours.
