MUSLIM holders of World Cup tickets will be able to perform Umrah in Saudi Arabia without the need to pay for a visa, the kingdom has announced.

According to Middle East Eye online news website, those with a Hayya card — the document given to fans attending Fifa World Cup matches in Qatar — will not need to pay to do the year-round pilgrimage to Makkah.

Khaled al-Shammari, an assistant director of the visa department at the Saudi foreign ministry, recently anno­unced that Hayya card holders could stay in Saudi Ara­bia for up to two months.

“The visa is free but medical insurance must be obta­ined from the visa platform,” Shammari told Ekhbariya TV, adding that cardholders could enter and exit Saudi Arabia multiple times during the two-month period, without needing to have entered Qatar.

Besides the host nation, those attending the tournament next month will also stay in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and the UAE.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2022