How to verify a Hajj travel agency in Pakistan

The short answer. Ask for three things in writing: the Hajj Group Organiser licence issued by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the HOAP membership number, and the registered company name. Then check them yourself rather than taking them. A real organiser hands all three over without hesitating, because they are the reason to choose it. An organiser that will not give you a number has answered the question.

This page is the mechanical half: what to ask for and where to look it up. The judgement half, which organiser actually suits you, is how to choose a legitimate Hajj operator.

We are a licensed organiser ourselves, so read this knowing who wrote it. We are also the people who have to answer for the industry every time somebody is taken, which is why it is written plainly.

1. The Hajj Group Organiser licence

Private Hajj from Pakistan is sold under a licence. The Ministry of Religious Affairs licenses Hajj Group Organisers, and only a licensed organiser may file a private Hajj group. This is the one that matters most, because without it nothing else the company says can be delivered.

What to do:

• Ask for the licence, not for reassurance. "Are you licensed?" gets a yes from

everybody. "Please send me your Hajj Group Organiser licence" does not.

• Check the name on it against the name taking your money. A licence belonging

to a different company, a cousin's company or an expired entity is the single most

common trick.

• Check it against the Ministry. The

Ministry of Religious Affairs is where the private

scheme and its organisers are administered. If you cannot confirm an organiser

there, treat the licence in your hand as unconfirmed.

A package sold by somebody who is not an organiser is being sub-sold. That can be legitimate, but you must know whose licence you are actually travelling on and who is responsible if something fails in Mina.

2. The HOAP membership number

The Hajj Organisers Association of Pakistan keeps a member directory, and it is the easiest independent check a family can do in five minutes.

• Ask for the HOAP membership number, in the form it is written on the certificate.
• Look it up in the association's own directory at

hoap.org.pk. The directory lists members by region, so

check that the city matches the office you are standing in.

• Our own number is 4207/K, Region 3, Karachi, and it is on our

contact page with the certificate photographed. Check ours too. That

is the point of publishing it.

HOAP membership is not the same thing as the Ministry licence and does not replace it. It is a second, independent record with the company's name in it, which is exactly what a fabricated certificate cannot survive.

3. The company behind the name

A Hajj package is a contract for a large sum of money, often a family's savings. You are entitled to know who the contract is with.

• Ask for the registered company name and check it matches the receipts, the

bank account and the licence. "Hujjaj Travel and Tours (Pvt) Ltd" is ours.

• A private limited company is on the public record. SECP's company register is

searchable, and a company that cannot be found there is not the company it says

it is.

• The travel agency licence. Travel agents in Pakistan are registered with the

Department of Tourist Services. Ask for that number too; an agency selling

tickets and hotels should have one.

• IATA accreditation, where an agency issues its own airline tickets, is a

further check and an easy one to ask about.

Ours are listed, with the certificates photographed, on the contact page. We publish them so they can be checked, not as decoration.

4. The office, the account and the paper

Three checks that cost nothing and catch most of what the registers miss.

Go to the office if you can. A real Hajj operator has a desk, a filing cabinet and staff who were there last year. A WhatsApp number and a Facebook page are not an office. If you are in another city, ask for a video call from inside the office.

The bank account must be the company's. Money for Hajj should go to the registered company's account, against a receipt, never to a personal account and never to a name that does not match the licence. This single rule prevents most of what goes wrong.

Everything in writing before you pay. The package, the hotels by name, the distances, the Mina category, the flight dates, what is excluded, and the cancellation terms. A refusal to put it in writing is the answer.

What a straight answer looks like

When you ask a real organiser for its licence and its HOAP number, you get a photograph of both within the hour, with the numbers typed out so you can search them. Nobody is offended. We are asked several times a week and it is the question we would rather families asked more often.

When you ask an unlicensed seller, you get a change of subject, a promise to send it later, an older brother's licence, or a reason why the paperwork is with somebody else today.

Then check the package, not just the company

A verified organiser can still sell you the wrong package. Once the company checks out, the questions move to what you are buying, and those are in what to ask a Hajj agency before booking. If you want to see what a written answer looks like, our current departures, what each price includes and the Munazzim's name and number are on the Hajj packages page.

Ask us for our licence and our HOAP number. We will send both, and we will tell you how to check them.