{"id":125189,"date":"2026-05-02T21:41:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T16:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=125189"},"modified":"2026-05-02T21:41:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T16:41:27","slug":"saudi-arabia-reverses-decision-setting-minimum-age-for-haj-pilgrims-at-15-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125189\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia reverses decision setting minimum age for Haj pilgrims at 15 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The Ministry of Religious Affairs on Saturday said that Saudi Arabia had reversed its decision to set the minimum age for Haj pilgrims at 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier in the day, the ministry, in a letter, had said that Saudi Arabia had set the minimum age for pilgrims at 15. It had said that the restrictions would be effective from 12am on May 3, 2026 (Monday).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe government of Saudi Arabia has assured that all affected pilgrims will receive a full refund of the deposited amount,\u201d the ministry had assured the public. Subsequently, in a statement reiterating the new directives, the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) had said, \u201cNo pilgrim under the age of 15 years will be allowed to board Hajj flights, and such visas shall be treated as cancelled under this policy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, hours later, the religious affairs ministry issued a new letter to officials, which stated the kingdom had \u201creversed its decision regarding the under-15-year age restriction for Haj\u201d. It said that its previous instructions \u201cmay be deemed withdrawn\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe previous policy \u2014 allowing children above 12 years \u2014 is now back in effect. However, the visas that were rejected under the 15-year restriction will need to be re-processed,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Subsequently, the PAA also issued a statement reiterating the same. \u201cChildren aged 12 and above have been allowed to perform Haj again,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cVisas that were rejected under the 15-year age restriction will be reprocessed,\u201d the PAA said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The inaugural Haj flight for 2026 under the Route to Makkah initiative&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1993193\">departed<\/a>&nbsp;on April 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year, the Road to Makkah project has been expanded to Lahore, in addition to Karachi and Islamabad, and is expected to benefit over 95,000 pilgrims,&nbsp;<em>Radio Pakistan<\/em>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1993264\">reported<\/a>&nbsp;earlier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The Ministry of Religious Affairs on Saturday said that Saudi Arabia had reversed its decision to set the minimum age for Haj pilgrims at 15. Earlier in the day, the ministry, in a letter, had said that Saudi Arabia had set the minimum age for pilgrims at 15. It had said that the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Saudi Arabia reverses decision setting minimum age for Haj pilgrims at 15 years - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125189\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saudi Arabia reverses decision setting minimum age for Haj pilgrims at 15 years - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The Ministry of Religious Affairs on Saturday said that Saudi Arabia had reversed its decision to set the minimum age for Haj pilgrims at 15. Earlier in the day, the ministry, in a letter, had said that Saudi Arabia had set the minimum age for pilgrims at 15. It had said that the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125189\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-02T16:41:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-02T16:41:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-18.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125189\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125189\/\",\"name\":\"Saudi Arabia reverses decision setting minimum age for Haj pilgrims at 15 years - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125189\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125189\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-18.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-02T16:41:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-02T16:41:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125189\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125189\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125189\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-18.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-18.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125189\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Saudi Arabia reverses decision setting minimum age for Haj pilgrims at 15 years\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Saudi Arabia reverses decision setting minimum age for Haj pilgrims at 15 years - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125189\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Saudi Arabia reverses decision setting minimum age for Haj pilgrims at 15 years - Nation","og_description":"ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The Ministry of Religious Affairs on Saturday said that Saudi Arabia had reversed its decision to set the minimum age for Haj pilgrims at 15. Earlier in the day, the ministry, in a letter, had said that Saudi Arabia had set the minimum age for pilgrims at 15. 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