Visa Haji Furoda Disrupts And Its Links To Saudi Arabia's 2030 Vision

Pilgrims of Hajj candidates are preparing to perform Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, Friday (9/5/2025). (ANTARA/Andika Wahyu/agr)

JAKARTA Thousands of prospective furoda pilgrims canceled their departure after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia did not issue visas. The government is asked to take responsibility for the chaos that occurred.

Ahead of wukuf in Arafah should be a solemn moment for millions of guests of Allah. However, thousands of prospective pilgrims from Indonesia are in the opposite condition, feeling disappointed because they have canceled their fifth Islamic harmony.

Many of them have prepared everything, namely plane tickets, hotels, and even savings. However, the Hajimumulalah visa, better known as Furoda Hajj, was not issued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Even those who have arrived in the Holy Land cannot perform the pilgrimage, because the promised Furoda visa never comes. The certainty of the issuance of a furodic hajj visa was conveyed by the Deputy Head of the Hajj Organizing Agency as well as Secretary Amirul Hajj Indonesia, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak.

According to the Saudi Arabian government, non-coota Hajj visas such as Furoda will not come out, "he said on May 30, 2025.

There is no further information about the reason the Saudi government did not issue an official permit for foreign nationals to enter and live in the country to perform the special route pilgrimage.

The Ministry of Religion recorded that more than 1,000 Furoda hajj candidates had canceled their departure because Saudi Arabia did not issue visas. According to a number of sources, those who initially planned to depart via the furode route had paid dearly, ranging from IDR 373 million to IDR 975 million per person.

Chairman of the Muslim Association of Hajj and Umrah Organizers of the Republic of Indonesia (AMPHURI) Firman M. Nur said the average potential loss suffered by the congregation was around Rp. 40 million to Rp. 81 million per person. This includes ticket fees, accommodation, and other services that have been ordered.

The organizers also suffered losses. The figure is also very large, estimated at between Rp. 1 billion to Rp. 2 billion for each congregation group of 50 people.

Furoda hajj is a popular term in Indonesia to mention prospective hajj users of visamujahama or direct invitations from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In this program, prospective pilgrims do not go through the national quota allocation which is usually limited.

Furoda hajj seems to be a trend among the Indonesian people. In recent years, performing the fifth Islamic pillars through this invitation route has become one of the favorites. The reason is not only because they were promised better facilities and services while in Saudi Arabia, but they can also cut the queue for regular Hajj whose waiting period can reach dozens or even decades.

With a surplus of hundreds of millions, Furoda pilgrims can perform this worship without waiting long.

However, the implementation of visamumamalah-user hajj is often in the spotlight because it often encounters a number of problems. The failure of prospective furoda pilgrims does not occur only this year. Since the hajj quota was reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic, the failure of the departure of prospective Furoda Hajj pilgrims emerged in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

For this year's case, the Minister of Religion Nasaruddin Umar revealed that the granting of visas is outside the authority of the government. Umar emphasized that the Indonesian government had communicated intensively with the Saudi Arabian authorities about this matter.

A similar opinion was expressed by a member of the House of Representatives' Hajj Supervisory Team, Abdul Wachid. He said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia did not issue Furoda Hajj visas not only for Indonesia, but for all countries.

In addition, Abdul Wachid also said that the DPR and the government could not do much because the furode visa was purely the authority of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Indonesia has no authority to regulate the number or distribution," said Abdul Wachid.

Until now, there has been no detailed explanation as to why the furoda visa was not issued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But one thing is certain, the authority to issue visas for furody hajj is entirely in their hands. So only those who know the answer why.

In Indonesia itself, this incident has caused a number of speculations. The chairman of Komnas Haji and Umrah Mustolih Siradj assessed that Saudi Arabia was doing this to improve the management of the hajj so that it would have a more impact on the economic sector.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is currently carrying out Vision 2030, which is a long-term plan to escape its dependence on oil and gas as a pillar of the economy. Saudi Arabia wants to explore and take advantage of other sectors in increasing the country's financial treasury.

Therefore, when Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) as the successor to King Salman's throne held a lot of government control, Hajj and Umrah governance was included in Vision 2030.

Mustorih argues that MBS sees Hajj and Umrah as a promising source of foreign exchange.

"That's why if I see this there is a common thread there, that Saudi Arabia is currently wary and see in the context of structuring the pilgrimage. Although calculated they also lose because Furoda Hajj is not a public pilgrimage. This is a high-cost hajj," said Mustolih.

Simply put, Saudi Arabia is currently evaluating what aspects need to be maintained or not in the implementation of Hajj or Umrah.

The same thing was also expressed by the Secretary General of the Central Management Board, Amphuri Farid Aljawi, who suspected that the Saudi Arabian Kingdom's decision not to issue visas for organizing the implementation of this year's Hajj.

The arrangement was carried out based on last year's Hajj implementation, when 1,301 hajjes died in Saudi Arabia. After collecting data, it turned out that 80 percent were known to use non-hajj visas.

In addition, said Farid, during last year's implementation, there were also many pilgrims protesting the traffic of non-hajj visa holders occupying tents belonging to Hajj pilgrims. Reflecting on this experience, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reduces the number of prospective salaries, from what usually can reach 2.5 million people, but according to the latest data in 2025, only about 1.5 million people.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also limits the issuance of visas only for those who perform the pilgrimage. Currently, the pilgrimage can only use a Hajj visa.

In the past the pilgrimage visa could enter, the work visa could enter. Now it can't, other than the Hajj visa," said Farid.