Safa Group pilgrims delayed by visa issue scheduled to depart Tuesday

Safa Hajj and Umrah Group states arrangements have been made for its pilgrims – whose departure to Saudi Arabia for Umrah on Thursday morning got canceled last minute over visa issues – to travel to the nation on Tuesday.

Many pilgrims who have made payments to Safa Group for their Umrah trips were scheduled to depart to Saudi Arabia on Thursday morning. Safa Group announced the last-minute cancellation of the trip in the early hours of Thursday via a message to the pilgrims’ Viber group citing non-receipt of visas.

Islamic Ministry issued a press release on the case on Thursday night in which they stated Safa Group failed to seek visa ahead of time. Thereby, they attributed the non-finalization of the pilgrims’ visas to negligence by the group.

An official from Safa Group told Sun on Friday that they have no intention to deceive any party.

The official detailed that they were ready for the trip till the last minute as the visa agency from Saudi Arabia, they corresponded with, repeatedly assured them the visas had been finalized.

The official stressed that the pilgrims were not informed ahead of time as they provided assurance from the visa agency.

“We tried till 3:00am on the night before departure. They said the visa was finalized. That it can be viewed upon login. But at the last minute, they changed the login password and we were unable to access it. That was the point we informed the cancelation of the departure to the pilgrims,” the official said.

Safa Group said the copies of the pilgrims’ passports have now been forwarded to Saudi Arabian visa agency, Sharia-tul Mashair.  

The group further stated that discussions have been held with Travel To Maldives to book the tickets for the pilgrims which has led to fruition as assurance has been provided the pilgrims will be able to depart on the 20^th of Ramadan.

Agreements pertaining to the deal will be signed at 14:00om on Saturday.

Safa Group said no additional fees will be charged from the pilgrims for their alternate travel arrangements.

“Will make sure the pilgrims are able to perform Umrah despite any huge loss that the group may bare,” the official said.