Egypt's Ministry of Interior has announced that applications for the Hajj lottery for Egyptians for the 1448 AH-2027 season will be accepted from Wednesday 12 August until Thursday 27 August 2026.
The Ministry of Interior said applications can be submitted through:
All police stations and departments in every security directorate.
The website of the General Department of Administrative Affairs on the Ministry of Interior portal.
Calling the dedicated pilgrims' application center.
A public lottery will be held through the Unified Egyptian Hajj Portal for all applicants in the security directorates, according to the timetable to be announced by the General Department of Administrative Affairs.
To be accepted, Hajj lottery applications must follow these conditions and procedures:
Applications are submitted by the citizen in person at any police station or department regardless of place of residence, observing all precautionary measures.
Applications can be submitted through the website of the General Department of Administrative Affairs on the Ministry of Interior portal.
Or by calling the pilgrims' application center (02-27983000), based on a valid national ID card; applications with an expired card will not be accepted.
This must be done within the set dates for accepting Hajj applications nationwide.
The lottery will be held from the quota allocated to the governorate of the applicant's place of residence as listed on their national ID card.
Citizens must choose the body through which they wish to perform Hajj (lottery, tourism or social solidarity) and may apply only once to any of these bodies, given the unification of applicant registration. Once applications close, the application is included only in that body's lottery, no further applications to any other Hajj body will be accepted, and the application may not be cancelled to apply to another body until after the lottery.
The General Department of Administrative Affairs at the Ministry of Interior has set several rules for applying for the Hajj lottery, including:
Hajj this season (1448 AH-2027) is limited to those who have never performed Hajj in their lives, provided they are medically fit to perform the rituals.
Applications are accepted on the prepared forms available at police stations and on the website, signed by the citizen personally; any companion signs next to the applicant's signature, and the set fees must be paid.
A copy of a valid national ID card is attached to the paper application after viewing the original, the national ID number is entered on the application, and the declarations and copies of the documents required for each case must be attached.
The applicant's health status and type of illness (if any) must be stated in detail. The following groups are banned from travelling to perform Hajj in 1448 AH-2027, as they are most at risk of infection under the rules approved by Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population and the Saudi authorities: kidney failure patients requiring dialysis; pulmonary fibrosis patients; advanced cases of heart disease, vascular disease and liver cirrhosis; neurological and psychiatric/mental illnesses that impair awareness or are accompanied by severe motor disabilities, and Alzheimer's and old age accompanied by dementia; women in the last three months of pregnancy and high-risk pregnancies at all stages; active cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, biological or radiation therapy; active infectious diseases with public health impact in crowds, such as tuberculosis, open pulmonary TB and hemorrhagic fevers; cases of morbid obesity; and children under 12. Any change in age requirements from the Saudi side will be notified immediately for implementation.
Winning pilgrims must complete the vaccinations required by Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population in coordination with the Saudi side (a single dose of the quadrivalent meningitis vaccine), at least 10 days and no more than 5 years before travel, or any other vaccinations the Egyptian Ministry of Health or the Saudi side may later require.
The Ministry of Interior stressed full compliance with the Saudi authorities' instructions on health fitness criteria for performing Hajj, in line with the mechanism and protocol applied by Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population.
It explained that the Office of Egyptian Pilgrims' Affairs has the right to cancel Hajj applications or visas submitted or issued on the basis of medical reports that misrepresent the health status of applicants and their companions (if any), and to return them from Saudi Arabia after travel at their own expense without performing Hajj, in line with Saudi instructions, without any liability on the Ministry of Interior.
An important declaration
The Hajj applicant and any companion sign the declaration included in the application that they have never performed Hajj and are medically fit to perform the rituals, and confirm that they have read and agree to the conditions and rules governing the Hajj lottery listed in the application. Violating these conditions and rules results in the immediate cancellation of the Hajj opportunity won, without any liability on the Ministry of Interior.
The applicant and any companion must tick (√) the health status section of the application; applications will not be accepted if the health status box is not ticked.
Applicants (the applicant and any companion) must meet the following conditions:
Have full legal capacity to perform the rituals.
Be Egyptian nationals.
Be at least 21 years old (men and women) for a sole applicant, at least 18 for a mandatory companion of the applicant, and at least 12 (male or female) for a non-mandatory companion (born on or before 28 January 2015). Any change in age requirements from the Saudi side will be notified immediately. Age is determined as of 27 January 2027 (20 Sha'ban 1448 AH). Neither the applicant nor the companion may have performed Hajj before, and the companion must be a relative up to the fourth degree, with proof of kinship required if they win the lottery. If kinship between the applicant and the mandatory companion (up to the fourth degree) cannot be proven, the winning applicant will be asked to nominate a replacement companion meeting the same conditions; if they cannot, the entire application is cancelled without any liability on the Ministry of Interior.
Important general instructions
Submitting a Hajj application online or by calling the pilgrims' application center (02-27983000) constitutes the applicant's acknowledgment that they have read and agree to all the published conditions and rules of the Hajj lottery and the instructions announced by the security directorate, as well as a contractual commitment. Any error in the data entered on the application is the applicant's responsibility.
Pilgrims must adhere to the outbound and return travel dates on their tickets so as not to disrupt the pre-arranged pilgrim transport plan coordinated with the carrier; the Ministry of Interior is not responsible if a pilgrim fails to adhere to the dates on their ticket.
A mandatory companion who meets the conditions and has never performed Hajj may travel if the original applicant dies. If an original applicant who won through the 1% seniority quota gives up their Hajj opportunity, the mandatory companion may travel only if the waiver comes after both have paid the costs; if it comes before payment, the companion's Hajj opportunity is cancelled.
The travel point of the winning applicant (single or couple) is determined by their place of residence on their national ID card at the time of application.
Paper application fees are paid at police stations, while online and phone applications are paid through various electronic payment methods (credit card or contracted electronic collection agents). Applications are not considered accepted until payment is made within the application period.
Procedures and conditions for transferring Hajj to others
A Hajj opportunity cannot be inherited by anyone, regardless of kinship.
Transfers are permitted from children to a parent (or vice versa), from husband to wife (or vice versa), and from a spouse to the spouse's father or mother (or vice versa), provided the winners are not from the 1% seniority quota for the oldest applicants.
The transferee must be in good health and free of the illnesses specified by Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population and the Saudi authorities, must never have performed Hajj, and must meet the rules governing the Hajj lottery.
The required documents (birth certificate, transfer application, copy of national ID card) are sent to the General Department of Administrative Affairs for review, and the department will add the application to the Unified Egyptian Hajj Portal if approved.
Transfer applications for these cases are accepted from original lottery winners or those promoted from the reserve list up to 48 hours before the deadline for paying costs.
A transfer cannot be reversed except in the event of the transferee's death, provided the original winner pays the set Hajj costs if the department approves the reversal.
The travel point is determined by the place of residence of the original applicant (the transferor), not the transferee, to preserve the directorate's visa quota.
Winners, regardless of kinship, are not entitled to request to travel or be housed together as long as each applied individually, without any liability on the Ministry of Interior.
Data required to apply (the pilgrim)
Full name as written on a national ID card valid for at least 6 months.
The 14-digit national ID number.
Mobile phone number, entered accurately as it is the means of contacting the pilgrim after winning, as well as another number for a relative to contact if necessary.
A detailed statement of health status.
Data required for the companion (if any)
National ID card, documents proving kinship with the applicant as set out above, good health and freedom from the illnesses specified by Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population and the Saudi authorities, and a personal mobile phone number.
The applicant and companion (if any) sign the application confirming that the data entered is correct and on their own responsibility.
The 1% quota for the oldest applicants
1% of Hajj visas are allocated to the oldest applicants and their companions in each directorate separately. The Unified Egyptian Hajj Portal compiles their data and ranks them in descending order of age for each directorate, and they and their companions are excluded from the lottery and considered winners by default, with the rest included in the general lottery. The elderly person is entered first on the portal as the original pilgrim (applicant), followed by their companion.
If a couple apply together and both are elderly (70 or over), or one is elderly and the other a person of determination, then, as an exception, they must be accompanied by only one companion who is a relative up to the fourth degree, in good health and able to care for them, and under 70; the exception conditions above apply to them.
If a couple of the same sex who are both persons of determination apply together, the applicant's mandatory companion must be a relative up to the fourth degree, and the companion will be examined by the directorate's Assistant Director for Financial and Administrative Affairs or their delegate after winning the lottery; if the conditions are not met, they will be replaced with another companion.
Paying Hajj costs
Hajj costs are paid at all branches of the national banks (National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Banque du Caire) and Egypt Post offices nationwide, to a government payments account ("Hajj lottery payments or fees"), as follows:
An advance payment of only EGP 80,000 will be collected from Hajj lottery winners, to be paid within 12 days of the announcement of the results, in line with the rules set by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah. The date for paying the remaining costs will be set once the final amount has been calculated.
Payment of the airfare according to the rules and amounts set by EgyptAir.
Each winner pays separately, except for the applicant's mandatory companions, who pay together, using their two valid national ID cards.
The winner must pay any additional costs imposed by the Saudi authorities on the Saudi electronic track.
The Ministry of Interior stressed that all conditions and rules governing Hajj for the 1448 AH-2027 season will be available at all security directorates and on the Unified Egyptian Hajj Portal from the opening of Hajj lottery applications on Wednesday 12 August until Thursday 27 August 2026.
This was according to the official Facebook page of the Egyptian Ministry of Interior.
