ISLAMABAD - Saudi Arabian Embassy extended the date of compulsory bio-metric visa verification to December 4. Previously, Saudi Arabian Embassy had made biometric verification mandatory for Pakistani Umrah aspirants.

Travel agents association of Pakistan protest against this new law.

According to Travel Agents Association, “new Umrah policy of Saudi Arabia had made it mandatory for Pakistani citizens aspiring to go for Umrah to get themselves biometrically verified from designated verification centers before applying for a visa.” Without the biometric verification, they were unable to submit applications to Saudi Arabian Embassy for Umrah visas. They said the centers providing biometric verification service were located only in Federal and provincial capitals and Umrah aspirants from all over the country had to go to those centers, which had been a troublesome experience for them.