This year, the immigration process of all those who will go for Hajj from the country will be completed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Hajj pilgrims from Bangladesh will be able to go to their destination without any immigration formalities after landing at the airport in Saudi Arabia.

The information was given after a meeting of the Ministry of Religion on Monday.

Secretary of the ministry Kazi Enamul Hasan presided over the meeting held on preparations for this year’s Hajj. Earlier in 2019, the immigration formalities of a limited number of pilgrims were completed in Shahjalal.

Earlier, after landing in Saudi Arabia, pilgrims had to wait for hours at the airport to complete the immigration process.

According to ministry sources, so far only Malaysia and Indonesia have been able to complete the immigration process for Hajj passengers at their respective airports.

From now on, Hajj pilgrims from Bangladesh will also be able to complete their immigration process in Dhaka within minutes before the flight. It used to take a few hours after landing in Saudi Arabia.

About 56,575 people are expected to perform Hajj from Bangladesh this year. Hajj flights are expected to begin in early July. This year, about 1 million people around the world will be allowed to perform Hajj.

At today’s meeting of the Ministry of Religion, the Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh has demanded a reasonable price for flight tickets for Hajj passengers.

Meeting sources told The Daily Star that flight tickets for Hajj passengers were not finalized at the meeting.

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The meeting discussed various issues including announcement of Hajj package, preparation of Hajj flight schedule, allocation of space for Saudi authorities in Shahjalal for implementation of immigration, dedicated Hajj flight, issuance of flight tickets through Hajj agency.

During the meeting, State Minister for Religion Faridul Haque Khan said, “Time is short, so we have to work sincerely to ensure better Hajj management. For this, everyone concerned has to work day and night for the rest of the time.

“In the changed circumstances after the Corona epidemic, we need to complete the preparations for the Hajj in a very short time,” he said.

Faridul Haq Khan said in another program on Monday, “Even if people over the age of 65 have already registered for Hajj, they will not be able to go for Hajj this year as per the decision of the Saudi government.”

State Minister for Civil Aviation Mahbub Ali, managing director and CEO of the aircraft. Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal and others were present.