Hajj from abroad, for overseas Pakistanis, and the POC change for 2027
The short answer. Which document you hold decides everything. If you still hold a Pakistani passport, you have always been able to book Hajj under Pakistan's quota from abroad, and nothing about that has changed. If you gave up Pakistani nationality and hold a Pakistan Origin Card, then for Hajj 2027 you can use Pakistan's quota for the first time: Saudi Arabia approved it, one per cent of the national quota, 1,792 seats, is reserved for POC holders, and it is open through both the government and the private scheme. If you hold neither, you go through the quota of the country you live in, not Pakistan's.
Every year we take calls from Dubai, Jeddah, Manchester, Toronto and Sydney that begin the same way: I am Pakistani, I live abroad, can I do Hajj through you?
The answer has always been "it depends on your passport", and until this year that answer excluded a large group of people for reasons most of them found arbitrary. For 2027 it has changed. Here is the whole picture, in three cases.
Case one: you still hold a Pakistani passport
If you are an overseas Pakistani who has kept Pakistani nationality, whether you hold a NICOP or not, you are in the simplest position. You are a Pakistani national, Pakistan's quota is yours to apply for, and you can do it from wherever you live.
The policy's own condition is that applicants must be Pakistani nationals holding a valid Pakistani passport at the time of applying, with the minimum passport validity notified for that season. That is the whole of the nationality test.
Practically, from abroad:
- Applications for the government scheme are made through the Pak Hajj app and
website, which you can use from any country.
- For the private scheme, you book through a licensed operator, and under the new
rules your payment goes into a Government Account at the State Bank rather than
to the operator. That is true whether you are in Karachi or Calgary.
- Documents can be couriered. The one thing that is genuinely easier in Pakistan
is anything needing a physical signature, and there is usually a way round it.
Dual nationality does not disqualify you. Holding a British or Canadian passport as well as a Pakistani one leaves you eligible on the Pakistani one.
Case two: you hold a Pakistan Origin Card, and 2027 is your first year
This is the change, and it is a real one.
A Pakistan Origin Card is held by foreign nationals of Pakistani origin who previously held Pakistani citizenship and then surrendered it along with the passport. Until now that put Hajj under Pakistan's quota out of reach: no Pakistani passport, no place in Pakistan's allocation.
For Hajj 2027, Saudi Arabia approved the inclusion of POC holders in Pakistan's quota. The terms as announced:
- One per cent of the total national quota is reserved for POC holders. On a
quota of 179,210 that is 1,792 seats.
- Both schemes are open to them, government and private.
- It is subject to there being no legal or administrative obstacle to the issuance
of a Saudi visa in the individual case.
It is the first time this has been allowed, which is worth saying plainly because a first year is also the year in which the process is least settled. Two things follow from that.
1,792 is a small number. Against a quota of 179,210 it is about one seat in a hundred, and the entire global POC-holding population is competing for it, on a first come, first served basis like everybody else. If you are in this category and you intend to go, treat it as urgent rather than as a new permanent right you can exercise next year at leisure.
Ask, do not assume, about the exact route. The Ministry notifies the application mechanism season by season, and the detail of how a POC holder applies, which portal, what is uploaded, what is checked, is exactly the kind of thing that is clarified after an announcement rather than in it. Anybody telling you confidently that they know the final process should be asked where they read it.
Case three: you hold no Pakistani document at all
If you have neither a Pakistani passport nor a POC, Pakistan's quota is not your route. Hajj quotas are allocated by Saudi Arabia to countries, and you apply through the country whose nationality you hold, through its own approved operators.
We say this because the question is asked often, usually by somebody whose parents were Pakistani and who assumed that was enough. It is not, and an agency that tells you otherwise is either mistaken or selling you something that will fail at the visa stage.
There is one thing we can still do for you in that case, and we are clear that it is the smaller thing: Umrah, which is not quota-bound, and which we arrange for travellers of any nationality.
What is the same for everybody
Whichever case you are in, the conditions the policy sets do not bend.
- Health fitness must be evidenced by a medical certificate. Terminally ill
patients are not permitted to travel on any pretext, and a person with a
disability or special need must be accompanied by a designated attendant.
- Age limits are set by the Saudi authorities for each season and notified
each year. Anybody quoting you a permanent age rule is quoting a previous year.
- A mahram is not required for women, subject to an affidavit covering
permission, travelling in a group of trustworthy women, and safety. We covered
that in Hajj and Umrah without a mahram.
- Money goes through the government, not the agency. Under the Private Hajj
Policy 2027 to 2030 operators are prohibited from collecting, holding or
transferring funds independently, and every pilgrim gets a Unique Hajj
Identification Number. From abroad this matters more rather than less: you are
paying a company you cannot walk into. See
Booking from abroad, practically
The parts that actually cause trouble are logistics, not eligibility.
Time zones and the first conversation. Tell us your city and we will call at an hour that suits you. Most of our overseas families do the whole thing on WhatsApp, which is the honest answer to "how will we keep in touch".
Documents. Scans first, originals or couriers only when something genuinely needs them. Ask at the start which items will need a physical original, so it is not discovered in the last week.
Flights that are not from Karachi. A Hajj package is usually priced from Karachi. If you are flying from Dubai or London, say so at the first conversation, because it changes the package structure, not just the price. Some operators quietly assume you will make your own way to Karachi first.
Who meets you. If you are arriving separately from the group, establish before you pay who meets you, where, and on whose phone number.
A family travelling from two countries. This is common and it is the one worth raising early: parents from Karachi, children from abroad, wanting to be in the same Maktab and the same hotel. It is usually arrangeable and almost never arrangeable late.
What to ask us, or anybody
- Given my exact documents, which quota am I eligible for, and on what basis?
- If I am a POC holder, what is the application route you will actually use?
- Where does my payment go, and can you show me it is the government account?
- What is my Unique Hajj Identification Number?
- Can you price this from my city rather than from Karachi?
- Which Maktab, and which hotels by name?
We have been arranging Hajj and Umrah from Karachi since 1984, and a good share of what we do is for families spread across two or three countries. Tell us which documents each traveller holds and where each one is flying from, and we will tell you plainly what is possible, including when the answer is that Pakistan's quota is not your route.
Send it on WhatsApp; it works from anywhere and it is how most of this gets done.
Our Hajj packages and their current prices are on their own page, and if it is Umrah you want, Umrah packages are quota-free and open to any nationality.
Read next: government scheme or private, and taking elderly parents, which comes up constantly for families booking for parents still in Pakistan.
Figures and the POC decision above drawn from: Hajj Policy and Plan 2027–2030, Ministry of Religious Affairs & Interfaith Harmony · ARY News, Saudi Arabia allows Pakistani-origin POC holders to perform Hajj under 2027 quota · Daily Times, POC holders allowed to perform Hajj under Pakistan's quota
This is a first year for the POC route and the detail will be notified by the Ministry. Check the current position against its own publication before you rely on anything here.