The short answer
Government or private scheme: what is the difference?
Pakistan’s Hajj quota is shared between two schemes. Under the Government Hajj Scheme, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony arranges everything at dues it sets each season, on a long or a short package. Under the Hajj private scheme, licensed companies sell packages in categories the ministry approves, with more choice of hotels, length of stay and flights, usually at higher prices. Both lead to the same Hajj visa, and both are first come, first served.
For Hajj 2027 the choice has narrowed. The Government scheme’s seats were booked online by late August 2026, and those pilgrims are paying their second instalment between 5 and 20 October. If you have not booked, the private scheme is the route left for 2027; new registrations go on the waiting list for later years. Our Hajj guide covers both schemes, the health rules and the Nusuk card.
Who can sell a private Hajj package for 2027?
Under the Hajj Policy 2027–2030, only companies incorporated under the Companies Act 2017, registered with the SECP and licensed under the Hajj and Umrah (Regulation) Act 2024 can run private Hajj operations. Each signs a Service Provider Agreement with the ministry covering services, medical and insurance cover, refunds and penalties. For 2027 the ministry has approved 25 companies, each with a ministry registration number.
This is the part many people miss. A travel agent, a relative’s contact or a local office may sell you the package, but the quota and the contract sit with the approved company named in the system. The policy bans trading, reselling, outsourcing or subletting quota, so a seat that belongs to another company “on paper” is not a seat.
How to verify registered Hajj group organisers
You can do every one of these checks yourself, in an evening. Watch for one mismatch along the way: if the portal shows places available but the operator says its quota is full, the ministry has asked pilgrims to report it.
Do these five checks before anything else:
- Find the company on the ministry’s list of approved companies for Hajj 2027, linked from its Private Hajj Scheme page, and note the exact name and registration number
- Open the Pak Hajj app or the official Hajj portal and find the same company and the exact package you are being offered
- Ask the seller, in writing, which approved company holds your seat; if the answer is vague or the name is not on the list, stop
- Check that the ‘Private Limited’ name matches the list exactly, because near-identical names are a common trick
- Read the ministry’s recent notices on the same page: it publishes warnings, and in September 2026 it named an unlicensed company that had no quota at all
What went wrong for private pilgrims in Hajj 2025
For Hajj 2025, Saudi Arabia set a February deadline for each country’s Hajj services — camps at Mina and Arafat, transport and accommodation — to be contracted and paid for through its Nusuk Masar system. Much of Pakistan’s private quota was not contracted in time. Saudi Arabia later restored a limited number of places, but tens of thousands of applicants who had booked with private companies could not go. The Prime Minister ordered an inquiry, and the government has since returned money to affected pilgrims.
The lesson for a pilgrim is uncomfortable: your seat depended on the company meeting Saudi deadlines with your money, and you could see none of it. For Hajj 2026, private bookings moved into the Pak Hajj app under ministry supervision. The 2027–2030 policy goes further:
- All private Hajj payments go into a Government account at the State Bank of Pakistan, tagged to you and to the company
- Companies may not collect, hold or transfer pilgrims’ money themselves
- The ministry pays Saudi service providers directly under verified agreements
- Refunds follow a controlled digital process
- Every pilgrim gets a unique Hajj identification number linked to identity and payment
- Quota a company fails to fill can be reallocated, and a company below the minimum size is declared non-operational and its pilgrims moved
Where the Hajj 2027 private scheme stands in October 2026
The Hajj Policy 2027–2030 is approved, and registration for future years opened on 22 June 2026. Private companies have uploaded their 2027 packages to the Hajj portal, and the ministry has set 20 November 2026 as the deadline to select a package and pay. After that it may reallocate any private quota that has not been taken up.
Hajj itself is expected around 14 to 19 May 2027, subject to moon sighting. The medical fitness certificate, vaccinations and training come later in the cycle, as they do for the Government scheme. When your Nusuk card is issued, check that the details on it match the package you were sold.
Checklist before you pay for a Hajj private scheme package
Have every one of these in front of you before any money moves:
- The company is on the ministry’s approved list for 2027, with its registration number
- The package appears in the Pak Hajj app or portal under that company, at the price you were quoted
- The terms in writing: the agreement, what is included and what is not
- Hotel names in Makkah and Madinah, with the walking distance to the Haram in metres
- The Mina and Arafat camp category, since location and facilities vary widely between categories
- The number of days, the departure city, the airline and whether flights are direct
- Refund terms if you cancel, if the company fails, or if no visa is issued
- Payment only through the Pak Hajj app or portal, with the receipt showing in the app
- A named contact for the company in Saudi Arabia during Hajj
Red flags: when to walk away
Our article on how to avoid visa fraud covers the wider patterns. If someone offers Hajj on a tourist or visit visa, our explainer on Umrah on a tourist visa sets out what those visas do and do not allow.
For a private Hajj booking, walk away from any of these, however well you know the seller:
- “Hajj on an Umrah or visit visa”. It is illegal: Saudi Arabia allows Hajj only with a Hajj permit, closes Makkah to other visa holders before Hajj, checks the Nusuk card on the way to the holy sites, and in 2026 announced fines, deportation and re-entry bans for violators and for anyone transporting them
- Cash only, or payment into a personal or company bank account instead of the portal
- No written package, or a seller who won’t name the approved company
- A “confirmed” seat outside the portal, after the deadline, or from someone else’s quota
- Pressure to pay today, before you have checked anything
How to make a Hajj operator complaint
Complaints about the private scheme go to the ministry. Use the ‘Inquiry/Complaints’ option in the Pak Hajj app, or email the ministry’s monitoring section at somonitoring@mora.gov.pk with your evidence. Complaints are heard by Complaint Disposal Committees in Pakistan and in Saudi Arabia, and a decision can be appealed to the Appellate Committee within 15 days.
If you went with a private company in 2026 and have an unresolved complaint, act now: the ministry says it will return companies’ 2026 performance guarantees after 20 October 2026 and will not consider complaints that arrive later.
Money paid outside the official system is not protected; the ministry has said pilgrims who pay any other way lose its redress. For outright fraud by an unlicensed seller, report it to the FIA as well, and keep every message and receipt.
Frequently asked questions
This is general guidance
