official permits
Last year, approximately 600 Egyptian pilgrims died during an extreme heatwave in the 1445 Hajj season. These individuals did not have official Hajj permits and, as a result, lacked access to designated camps in the Arafat and Mina areas—locations where all pilgrims are required to stay during specific days of the pilgrimage. Many of these unregistered pilgrims had entered Saudi Arabia using visit visas rather than official Hajj visas and remained in the country until the Hajj season, often relying on unauthorized or dubious operators.