Umrah from the UK for Pakistani passport holders

The short answer. From Britain you have more choice than almost any other country, because the UK has a large and well established Umrah trade of its own. That is good for you and it makes comparison harder, since a British all inclusive quote and a Pakistani land only quote are not the same product. We file the visa from Pakistan, and in a number of countries it can also be filed locally, so tell us your residency first. If you hold two passports, settle which one you are travelling on before anything is booked.

The two passport question

A great many Pakistani families in Britain hold both passports. Before any booking, settle one thing: which document are you travelling on, and is every record in the booking spelled the way that document spells it?

It matters because the name on the ticket, the visa and the hotel must match the document you actually present, and the two passports do not always spell a name identically. Tell us at the start which one you intend to use and send a scan of that one.

If anybody tells you the second passport disqualifies you from an Umrah, they are mistaken. Umrah is not quota bound and no nationality is barred.

Where the visa is filed

We file from Pakistan, which is what most of our overseas families use. In a number of countries it can also be filed where you live. Both routes exist and which is right for you depends on your residency, so say where you live before you pay anybody.

More on that in Umrah packages for overseas Pakistanis.

Comparing a British quote with ours, honestly

This is the part worth your attention, because most people compare the wrong things.

A British operator usually sells a full package: flight from a UK airport, visa, hotels, transfers, often in one price. A Pakistani office may quote you land only: the visa, the hotels and the ground arrangements, with you buying your own ticket.

Both are legitimate. They are simply not the same number. To compare them:

1. Ask us for the land only price, and add the fare you can actually get from

your own airport.

1. Check the hotels by name in both quotes, and the minutes to the Haram.
2. Check how many share the room in each. This is where two quotes stop

being comparable faster than anywhere else.

1. Check the nights in Makkah against the nights in Madinah. Shifting nights

to Madinah is the oldest way to make a package look cheap.

What is included in an Umrah package and choosing a hotel near the Haram.

Why British families come to us anyway

Usually one of three reasons, and they are all practical.

The family is split. Parents in Karachi, children in Birmingham or Bradford, everybody wanting the same hotel and the same days. One office holding both halves is doing one job rather than two, and this is almost never arrangeable late.

Somebody can walk into the office. For many British families there is a brother or an uncle in Karachi who can come to Saddar if something needs sorting. That is worth more than it sounds when you are paying a company from another country.

Land only suits them. They have a fare from their own airport, sometimes on miles, and want the Saudi end arranged properly.

Dates, and the British school year

Your cheapest and closest hotels are in the quiet months. Your most expensive and furthest are Ramadan, and then the school holidays, which in Britain means the summer, Easter and the half terms.

If your dates can move even a fortnight away from a holiday, that buys more hotel than raising the budget does, and on an Umrah the walk to the Haram is the day itself.

December and winter Umrah, Ramadan Umrah packages and how far in advance should I book.

Paying us from Britain

• To the registered company, against a receipt. Never a personal account.
• Everything in writing first, in one message you keep. Our terms are on the

cancellation and refunds page.

• Ask us what we can accept from the UK before you try to send anything. It

is a short answer and it saves a reversed transfer.

• Check the licence, not the logo:

how to verify an Umrah travel agency.

Practical, before you commit

• Passport expiry for every traveller, children included.
• The vaccination with the waiting period, started early.

Umrah health and vaccination requirements.

• Ask which documents need a physical original rather than a scan.
• If you are buying your own ticket, is the journey on one ticket?
• If you arrive separately from the group, who meets you, where, and on whose

number?

The full order of operations is in Umrah booking from abroad with a Pakistani passport.

Ask us

Tell us where in Britain you are, which passport each traveller will use, your dates and the ages, and whether you want the flight included or land only. We will price exactly that. Our departures are on the Umrah packages page and WhatsApp is how most of this gets done.