Saudi Gazette report

ISTANBUL — Saudi Arabia has launched “Makkah Route” initiative in Turkey on Tuesday.

Saudi officials, headed by Lt. Gen. Sulaiman Al-Yahya, director general of Passports and Saudi Chargé d'Affaires in Ankara Mohammad Al-Harbi inaugurated the initiative at Istanbul International Airport in the presence of head of Turkish Religious Affairs, Dr. Ali Arbash.

The initiative aims to receive the pilgrims and complete their procedures from their countries with ease.

It starts with issuing the visa electronically and taking the vital characteristics, and then passing through the complete passport procedures at the airport of the country of departure after verifying the availability of health requirements.

Also, the procedures include coding and sorting pilgrims’ luggage to send to their place of residency in the Kingdom.

The Ministry of Interior expanded the “Makkah Route” initiative to Turkey and Ivory Coast for this year.

The initiative now operates in seven countries including Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Morocco and Bangladesh since launching the initiative for the first time in 2019.