Dhaka
\nBangladeshi pilgrims have welcomed the Hajj immigration procedures under the Makkah Route initiative, which are easing the process for tens of thousands of pilgrims departing for Saudi Arabia from the nation\u2019s main international airport.
\nMost of the pilgrims are departing from Dhaka under the flagship pre-travel program.
\nThe Kingdom launched the initiative in 2019 to help pilgrims meet all the visa, customs and health requirements at the airport of origin and save them long hours of waiting before and upon arrival in Saudi Arabia.
\nThis year, Hajj is expected to start on June 4, and special pilgrimage flights from the Bangladeshi capital began on April 29.
\n\u201cThe Makkah Route initiative \u2026 It\u2019s very pleasant for the pilgrims of Bangladesh. It is, of course, time-saving and being done comfortably,\u201d Hajj director Mohammad Lokman Hossain told Arab News over the weekend.
\n\u201cThey didn\u2019t have to wait in a long queue and it\u2019s very beneficial to the pilgrims.\u201d
\nBangladesh is among seven Muslim-majority countries \u2014 including Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Morocco, Turkiye and Cote d\u2019Ivoire \u2014 where Saudi Arabia is operating its Makkah Route initiative.
\nOne of the most populous Muslim-majority countries, Bangladesh was granted a quota of 127,000 pilgrims in 2025. But only about 87,000 will be going this year due to high inflation and rising cost of airfares to the Middle East.
\nThe pilgrims appreciated the way the Saudi facility was organized at the airport as they prepared to board their flights to the Kingdom.
\n\u201cWe have completed the immigration formalities very easily. There was no delay, no waiting. It\u2019s like we came and everything was done,\u201d Mohammad Ruhul Kuddus, a businessman from Dhaka, told Arab News.
\nFor Oaliur Reza, the immigration process took only a minute.
\n\u201cI had no idea about these services. I just found out about it for the first time and I had a very good experience,\u201d Reza said.
\n\u201cJust within a minute, I passed the immigration, and I liked this service the most.\u201d
\nAbdul Awal, a businessman from the city of Feni, recalled how different it had been the first time he performed Hajj, when the Makkah Route initiative was not yet introduced.
\n\u201cI like the current system a lot. It made things easier. The difficulties of the pilgrims have been reduced now significantly compared to the years before (the Makkah Route initiative),\u201d Awal said.
\n\u201cThere were plenty of computerized service counters here for the pilgrims. Praise be to God, it\u2019s very good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dhaka Bangladeshi pilgrims have welcomed the Hajj immigration procedures under the Makkah Route initiative, which are easing the process for tens of thousands of pilgrims departing for Saudi Arabia from the nation\u2019s main international airport. Most of the pilgrims are departing from Dhaka under the flagship pre-travel program. The Kingdom launched the initiative in 2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405559,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-476644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n