AlQa'dah 29, 1433, Oct 15, 2012, SPA -- The Ministry of Hajj announced that the authorities concerned with the affairs of Hajj in countries from which pilgrims come have to change the name of "Hajj mission" to "Office of the affairs of pilgrims of the country from which they came." The Ministry also called on these authorities to change the name of "Hajj Medical Mission" to the "Medical Office for Pilgrims of the country from which they are coming," emphasizing that these offices will be the official representative for their countries' pilgrims and assume all relevant legal procedures, with no rights in the benefits granted to diplomatic and consular missions. The Kingdom's Ministry of Hajj attributed the reasons for the change to confusion among some official pilgrims' missions on character and tasks entrusted to them, leading to the attempt of some missions to give themselves a diplomatic and consular status without legal justification.
