Latest updates from top global and Saudi news sources
Last updated: 23 Sep 2026, 10:20 AM (Saudi time)
Saudi Arabia has expanded the Saudi Visa Bio app, letting Umrah pilgrims register fingerprints and facial data from their smartphones and removing the need to visit visa centers in supported countries.
Saudi Arabia has scrapped the budget-tier Package D for Hajj 2027 and replaced it with three premium categories bundling accommodation, transport, and catering, prompting concern over higher costs for pilgrims.
King Salman has approved hosting 1,000 Umrah pilgrims from 66 countries as royal guests at his personal expense, beginning with 250 pilgrims from 16 Asian nations in the first of four phases during 1448 AH.
Saudi Arabia's Grand Mosque authority has set separate Hijr Ismail entry times: women from 6:00am to 9:00am and men from 10:00pm to 1:00am, to ease crowding near the Kaaba.
Saudi Arabia has completed the annual replacement of the Kiswa covering the Holy Kaaba, a 1,415-kilogram covering of 47 embroidered silk panels crafted by 154 Saudi artisans.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has completed a full migration of its Hajj and Umrah Data Center to the cloud, a system that serves more than 20 million pilgrims a year and over 51 million Nusuk users.