Umrah Visa UK: Requirements, Fees and Application Guide for 2026
Umrah Visa Services with Bukhari Tours
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Booking flights and a hotel near the Haram is the easy part of planning Umrah. For most UK pilgrims, the part that causes sleepless nights is the Umrah Visa. Which type do you actually need? Does the whole family need one each? What happens if the meningitis certificate expires two weeks before you fly? At Bukhari Tours, we field these questions every single day from pilgrims in Manchester, Birmingham, Bradford, Blackburn, Leicester, Luton, Glasgow, and every corner of the UK, and the honest answer is that the process is simpler than it looks once you know which route applies to you.
This guide walks you through every Umrah visa Services options open to UK residents in 2026, what it costs, what documents you’ll need, how long approval takes, and where UK pilgrims most often trip themselves up. Whether you’re applying for yourself, taking your parents, or organising a group trip from your local mosque, this is everything you need before you open an application form — and if you haven’t already, it’s worth reading our complete Umrah guide alongside it.
What Is an Umrah Visa and Who Needs One
An Umrah visa is the entry permission issued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia specifically for pilgrims travelling to perform Umrah, the minor pilgrimage that can be undertaken at any point in the year outside the fixed Hajj season. Every UK national, and every UK resident travelling on a non-British passport, needs a valid visa to enter Saudi Arabia for this purpose. There is no walk-up option and no exemption for British passport holders, so this is the first box to tick before flights or hotels go anywhere near your credit card.
Where the process has genuinely changed in recent years is the platform behind it. Nusuk Umrah, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah’s official digital service, now sits at the centre of almost every UK application. Since Nusuk Umrah launched, pilgrims travelling from outside the Kingdom use the platform to request their visa and to book the specific services, accommodation and licensed ground transport that Saudi authorities now expect to see confirmed before a visa is issued. Since June 2025, an additional requirement has applied UK-wide and across every sending country: no Umrah visa is granted until your accommodation has been registered on the Nusuk Masar system through a hotel that holds a Ministry of Tourism licence. This is precisely why a booking with a properly ATOL-protected, Nusuk-registered UK agent, rather than an unlicensed intermediary offering to “sort your visa cheap”, matters more now than it ever has.
Types of Umrah Visa Available to UK Pilgrims
There are three realistic routes into Saudi Arabia for UK-based pilgrims performing Umrah, and which one suits you depends on how you’re travelling, who you’re travelling with, and how much of the process you want handled for you.
The Saudi Tourist eVisa
The Saudi Arabia tourist eVisa is the route most UK pilgrims now use, and for good reason. It is valid for a full year from the date of issue, allows multiple entries, and permits stays of up to 90 days per visit. British citizens can apply for it entirely online through the official Visit Saudi portal, and Muslim travellers are free to perform Umrah while holding it, even though it isn’t a dedicated religious visa.
E-Visa cannot be used to attend Hajj, which still requires its own separate Hajj visa booked exclusively through the Nusuk Hajj platform, but for Umrah at any other time of year it’s typically the fastest and most flexible option available to British and UK-resident travellers.
The Dedicated Umrah Visa Through Nusuk
Alongside the tourist eVisa sits the traditional, dedicated Umrah visa, applied for through a licensed Umrah agent or directly via Nusuk Umrah. This route is tied specifically to pilgrimage and, in practice, is the one most family groups and first-time pilgrims from cities like Bradford and Leicester still choose, because a licensed UK agent manages the paperwork end to end rather than leaving you to navigate a foreign government portal alone. One area where the rules have genuinely eased is mahram requirements for women. In recent years, Saudi authorities have relaxed the traditional requirement for women to travel with a male guardian, and women travelling as part of an approved, licensed Umrah group or package can now usually do so without a mahram. That said, requirements can still depend on age and the specific visa route, so always confirm your exact circumstances with your travel agent before you book flights.
Umrah Visa on Arrival
A visa on arrival is available to eligible nationalities at major Saudi entry points, processed through self-service kiosks or passport control on landing. It skips the advance application step entirely, but it carries its own separate medical insurance charge and, because there’s no paperwork done in advance, it leaves far less room to fix a mistake before you’re already at the gate. We’d only recommend it as a backup, never as your primary plan, particularly if you’re travelling during Ramadan or half-term, when queues at Jeddah and Madinah lengthen considerably.
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Umrah Visa Eligibility Requirements for UK Applicants
Before you begin any application, UK pilgrims need to meet a short but non-negotiable list of requirements.
Your British passport needs a minimum of six months’ remaining validity from your date of travel, and several UK agents, including the licensed operators processing dedicated Umrah visas, ask for closer to seven months as a safety margin. Applicants must be 18 or over to travel independently; anyone younger can only travel accompanied by a parent, grandparent, or an adult sibling over 18. The dedicated Umrah visa is reserved for Muslim applicants, while the tourist eVisa carries no religious test, though it does still permit Umrah to be performed. Every pilgrim needs a valid meningitis ACWY vaccination certificate, dated no less than ten days before arrival, and travel insurance that covers emergency medical treatment inside Saudi Arabia. If you’re a UK resident travelling on a non-British passport, you’ll also need to show a valid UK residence permit alongside your national passport, and Bukhari Tours has helped pilgrims with dual-nationality Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Somali passports through exactly this route more times than we can count.
Documents You Need for Your Umrah Visa Application
Before you sit down to apply, gather the following so the process doesn’t stall halfway through:
Your passport, valid for at least six months beyond your return date, plus a recent passport-style photograph on a plain white background that meets biometric standards. You’ll need your meningitis ACWY vaccination certificate, dated at least ten days before you fly, and proof of your Nusuk-registered accommodation and transport bookings, since these are now checked before a visa is issued rather than left to chance at the airport. Add confirmed return flight tickets, a valid travel insurance policy covering Saudi Arabia, and, if you’re travelling on a non-UK passport, your Biometric Residence Permit. Non-British passport holders should also expect to complete a Saudi biometric enrolment through the official fingerprint application, a step that catches out a fair number of first-time applicants from our Luton and Blackburn communities who assume the process is identical to a British passport holder’s.
Step-by-Step: How to Apply for an Umrah Visa from the UK
- Register on the official Nusuk platform and confirm your accommodation and ground transport bookings, since this is now a prerequisite step rather than something you can complete afterwards.
- Choose your visa route, tourist eVisa or dedicated Umrah visa, and use the correct portal for that route.
- Complete the application with your passport and travel details exactly as they appear on your documents.
- Upload your passport scan, photo, vaccination certificate, and Nusuk booking confirmations.
- Pay the visa fee by card.
- Receive your approved visa by email, then keep both a printed copy and a digital copy for the airport.
If that sounds like a lot to manage around work, school runs, and everything else, it’s exactly why most pilgrims travelling with Bukhari Tours let us handle the whole application as part of the package. We’re an ATOL-protected agent (ATOL 10850) and IATA-accredited, and every visa we process for our pilgrims runs through the same Nusuk-registered channel Saudi authorities now require.
Umrah Visa Processing Time for UK Pilgrims
Most online applications clear within 24 to 72 hours once every document is correctly uploaded. Even so, we always tell pilgrims from Manchester through to Glasgow to apply at least three weeks before departure. Volumes spike sharply in the run-up to Ramadan and during UK school holidays, and a single missing document or a passport photo on the wrong background can push a straightforward application back by days at exactly the point you can least afford to lose them.
Umrah Visa Cost and Fees from the UK
Visa fees are set and adjusted by the Saudi authorities and are typically charged in Saudi riyals, so the sterling amount will move slightly with the exchange rate on any given week. As a rough guide for budgeting, the tourist eVisa, which bundles in mandatory medical insurance, tends to work out at roughly £100 to £130 for UK applicants. Visa on arrival is usually a little lower on the base fee but adds a separate medical insurance charge on top, so the total often lands close to the eVisa price by the time you’ve paid both. If you book a full package through Bukhari Tours, your visa fee is included in the headline package price, so there’s no separate payment to track or forget.
Fees can and do change, and we’d rather point you to the source than quote a number that’s gone stale by the time you read this. Always confirm the current fee on the official Saudi eVisa portal, or ask us directly when you enquire, since our team checks the live rate every time we process an application.
Meningitis ACWY Vaccination and Health Requirements
The meningitis ACWY vaccine is a mandatory requirement for every Umrah pilgrim from the UK, and it’s one of the most common reasons an otherwise-ready application gets delayed. You need to have had the vaccine at least ten days before you arrive in Saudi Arabia, and most UK pharmacies, including the major high street chains, offer it as a single-dose private travel jab for somewhere in the region of £50 to £90, depending on where you go. If you’re under 25 and never had it as part of routine NHS immunisations at school, it may be available to you free on the NHS, so it’s worth checking with your GP first before paying privately.
Book your appointments for Umrah Visa Services UK early. Pharmacies in Bradford, Leicester and Blackburn routinely see a rush of Umrah travellers in the weeks before Ramadan, and slots can fill up fast in exactly the window you need them. Alongside the meningitis certificate, we’d recommend an up-to-date flu jab, particularly if you’re travelling with elderly parents, since respiratory illness spreads quickly in the crowded conditions around the Haram. Saudi Arabia can also see summer temperatures well above 40°C, so pack accordingly and carry any prescription medication with a doctor’s letter.
Applying as a Family, Group or Non-British Passport Holder
A large share of the pilgrims we work with aren’t applying alone. Families travelling together, group bookings organised through a local mosque, and pilgrims holding a Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian or other non-British passport while resident in the UK all have slightly different paperwork trails, and this is exactly the situation where a licensed UK agent earns their fee.
For families, each traveller, including children, needs their own individual visa application and their own vaccination certificate where age-appropriate, even though you’ll usually be booking and travelling as a single group. For non-British, UK-resident passport holders, the residence permit is the document that most often gets forgotten, and without it a visa application simply won’t be accepted, no matter how strong the rest of the file is. Group bookings, whether that’s fifteen people from a Luton mosque or a wider community trip from Leicester, benefit from being processed together through one agent, since it keeps documentation consistent and avoids the situation where nine visas clear and the tenth is held up over a mismatched date of birth.
Why Book Your Umrah Visa Through Bukhari Tours
Thirty years in this industry has taught us that the visa is where trips go wrong long before anyone reaches Jeddah. We are ATOL protected under ATOL 10850 and IATA accredited, which means your money and your booking are protected the way GOV.UK’s own travel advice recommends when it warns pilgrims to always check their agent’s ATOL status before paying for an Umrah trip. Every visa application we submit goes through the correct, current Nusuk-registered channel, with accommodation and transport already confirmed against a licensed hotel, so you’re not caught out by the Nusuk Masar accommodation rule that has tripped up pilgrims booking through unlicensed operators.
We’ve processed visas for pilgrims flying out of Manchester Airport on the direct Saudia service to Jeddah, for families flying from Birmingham on the direct Jeddah route, and for group bookings departing London for pilgrims across our Bradford, Blackburn, Luton, Leicester, Glasgow and Liverpool communities who prefer to travel down together. Take a look at our full range of Umrah packages to see exactly what’s included alongside your visa, wherever you’re starting from — we manage the visa as part of your package so you can focus on preparing spiritually for the journey rather than wrestling with a government portal at eleven at night.
FAQs
How long does the Umrah visa take?
Most online applications are processed within 24 to 72 hours once your documents are correctly submitted. We still recommend applying at least three weeks before departure, since demand rises sharply ahead of Ramadan and UK school holidays.
Can I perform Umrah on a tourist visa?
Yes. British citizens can perform Umrah while holding the Saudi tourist eVisa, which allows multiple entries over a year and stays of up to 90 days. It cannot be used for Hajj, which requires its own separate visa.
What is the cost of an Umrah visa?
Expect to pay roughly £100 to £130 for the tourist eVisa, including mandatory medical insurance, though the exact sterling figure moves with the riyal exchange rate. Visa on arrival carries a similar total once its separate insurance charge is added. If you book a package with us, the fee is already included in your price.
Do UK citizens need a mahram for Umrah?
Requirements have eased in recent years. Women travelling through a licensed Umrah group or package can usually travel without a mahram, though this can still depend on age and the specific visa route, so confirm your circumstances with us before booking.
Do I need a visa to visit Saudi Arabia for Umrah?
Who is eligible for a Saudi Arabia Umrah visa on arrival?
What’s included in a tailor-made Umrah visa and package?
Can we get an urgent Umrah visa?
Can non-British passport holders also get an Umrah visa from the UK?
What is the difference between an Umrah visa and a tourist visa?
Can I apply for an Umrah visa myself?
Yes, both the tourist eVisa and the Nusuk Umrah application can be completed independently online. Many pilgrims prefer to book through a licensed agent instead, since we manage the Nusuk accommodation registration, documentation, and timing on your behalf.
How many days before travel should I apply for my Umrah visa?
At least three weeks, and ideally longer if you’re travelling during Ramadan or the summer school holidays, when application volumes are at their highest.
Do children need their own Umrah visa?
Yes, every traveller needs an individual visa application, including children, though they travel on the same passport rules as any accompanied minor and must be with a parent, grandparent, or adult sibling over 18.
Is the meningitis vaccination compulsory for Umrah?
Yes, a meningitis ACWY certificate dated at least ten days before arrival is a mandatory requirement for every UK pilgrim, regardless of which visa route you use.
Can I use my Umrah visa to visit other Saudi cities?
If you’re travelling on the tourist eVisa, yes, it allows broader travel within Saudi Arabia beyond Makkah and Madinah. The dedicated Umrah visa is more tightly restricted to pilgrimage-related travel.
What happens if my Umrah visa application is rejected?
Rejections are usually down to a document mismatch, an expired passport validity margin, or an incomplete Nusuk booking. A licensed agent can identify the issue and resubmit, which is far harder to do alone once an application has already been declined.
Do I need travel insurance for my Umrah visa?
Yes, insurance covering emergency medical treatment in Saudi Arabia is a mandatory part of a valid application, and it’s bundled into the fee for the tourist eVisa.
Can I apply for my Umrah visa without booking a full package?
Yes, an “Umrah visa only” service is available for pilgrims who want to arrange their own hotel and transport separately, though your accommodation still needs to be a Nusuk Masar-registered, licensed hotel for the visa to be granted.
How long is an Umrah visa valid for?
The tourist eVisa is valid for one year with multiple entries and stays of up to 90 days each. The dedicated Umrah visa is generally tied to the specific dates of your booked pilgrimage.
Who do I contact if I have questions about my Umrah visa application?
Our team handles visa queries every day for pilgrims across Manchester, Birmingham, Bradford, Blackburn, Leicester, Luton, Glasgow and Liverpool. Get in touch, and we’ll talk you through exactly what your situation needs.
Ready to Start Your Umrah Journey?
The visa is the first real step of your pilgrimage, and getting it right early takes the stress out of everything that follows. Speak to our team today, and we’ll handle your Umrah visa application as part of a fully ATOL-protected package, from your first enquiry to the moment you land in Jeddah or Madinah. You can avail our Umrah Visa Service Confidently.
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