Two million pilgrims have visited the Kingdom this year compared to 1.6 million, last year. The Ministry of Haj released a report stating Saudi embassies and consulates worldwide have issued 2.5 million visas from July 29 and the number could increase to 3.3 million. Despite the increase in pilgrims residential buildings are being shut down in Makkah because of safety violations. Roughly 150 residential building licenses were revoked after inspection committees declared the buildings were not safe for pilgrims to stay in. A committee source told Okaz that 3240 licenses were approved as July 30 and there are an estimated 7000 residential buildings in Makkah for pilgrim use. Following concerns of a limited number of visas being issued the ministry said it did not restrict or place quotas on countries. The confusion occurred after a ministry statement referring to the shortage of staff in embassies and consulates around the world. Muhammad Hani, head of an Umrah agency said he applied for 1,000 Umrah visas but only a quarter of them were processed by the Saudi embassy in Egypt. He is pleading officials at the foreign ministry to increase the number of staff working in the visa section there. Majority of the Umrah pilgrims come from Egypt, Iran and Pakistan. The ministry's report also said the number of Umrah overstayers have dropped by 85 percent since 2006. A total of 9800 registered Umrah pilgrims are currently overstaying, according to official statistics. – Okaz __
