This page follows Morocco's official Hajj cycle in the order it happens: who may apply, how the draw is held, what selected pilgrims do next and how the waiting list works. It is written for families, and especially for sons and daughters abroad who are following a parent's file from a distance and need to know what the next letter, text message or office visit will be about.
We describe the official cycle as the ministry and the Moroccan press have published it. Each step carries its source. The next cycle, Hajj 1449, has not been announced, to our knowledge, as of 20 October 20263; the dates below are those of the current cycle, Hajj 1448/2027, which serves as the reference until new ones appear1.
Who can apply for Hajj in Morocco?
For Hajj 1448, applicants had to be aged 18 or over and not have performed Hajj in the last 10 years1. Those are the two conditions the press reported for the last cycle. They are the ones to check first for a parent; for the second one, the 10-year rule, you need the exact year of any previous Hajj1.
A third condition concerns older applicants. For Hajj 1448, elderly applicants had to register with a family member aged 50 or under who is physically able to accompany them throughout the Hajj4. In practice, that can be a son, a daughter or another relative registering alongside the parent. The text we read does not set the age from which an applicant counts as elderly, and it does not say what happens if the companion later withdraws. We list both points below.
Applications are made online, during a window fixed for each cycle. For Hajj 1448, online registration ran from 8 to 19 December 2025 on the website of the Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs1. The previous cycle opened in a different month: for Hajj 1447, applications ran from 13 to 24 January 2025, and the registration calendar has moved earlier with each cycle3.
Two lists. For Hajj 1448, the application was made on one of 2 lists: the one supervised by the ministry, or the one for travel agencies1. The two lists are drawn separately, as the next section explains. This page follows the ministry's official track; the agency track is explained separately by the guide's publisher, in how applying through a travel agency works, explained by Wiki Tours.
How does the lottery work?
Once the application window closes, places are allocated by drawing lots. For Hajj 1448, the lottery took place from 2 to 13 March 2026; the final lists and a waiting list were published afterwards2.
The draw is not held nationally in one go. According to the Ministry of Habous, for Hajj 1448 it was organised at the level of caidats and districts for the official list, and at the level of prefectures and provinces for the travel-agency list5.
What those words mean, for readers who grew up outside Morocco:
- A caidat (qiyada) is a local administrative unit, mostly in rural areas and small towns, headed by a caid.
- A district (arrondissement, or muqata'a) is its urban equivalent in the cities.
- A prefecture or province is the larger unit above them; prefectures cover the main urban areas, provinces the rest of the country.
The practical consequence: your parent is drawn among the applicants of the same area, not against the whole country.
We have no source on how many places each area receives, nor on the draw method itself, for example whether it is done electronically or in public. These points are listed below among the unknowns.
What happens after selection?
Being drawn is not the end of the process. Three steps follow, and the file is not complete until all of them are done.
The sequence
- The medical check. For Hajj 1448, selected applicants on both the official and the travel-agency lists had to pass medical exams, obtain a physical and mental fitness certificate and hand it to Interior Ministry services to receive the selection certificate6.
- The payment. For Hajj 1448, fees were paid in a single instalment at Al Barid Bank branches for both lists, including by certified cheque or electronic payment, on presentation of the national ID card and the selection certificate7.
- The preparation. Once the file is complete, the pilgrim prepares for departure with the official supervision of the cycle. The ministry launched an app called Rakb Al Hajj on 12 May 2026, with videos, audio guides, lessons in Arabic and Amazigh, and a guide to the accommodation sites in Makkah, Madinah and the holy sites10.
The order matters. The selection certificate comes after the medical certificate, and the bank asks for the selection certificate at the payment counter7. For a parent who lives far from a hospital or an Al Barid Bank branch, those two visits are the ones to plan for, and possibly the ones for which a relative in Morocco needs to take a day off.
How much the payment is, and how the official cost has changed from one season to the next, is outside this page; we keep to the steps. Those figures are tracked on prixomra.ma's page on Morocco's official Hajj cost, a site from the same publisher.
One more element concerns the departure itself. Morocco joined the Saudi "Makkah Route" initiative, under which Saudi entry formalities are completed at the departure airport, in 2022 (1443 AH), according to the Saudi ambassador in Rabat, and it serves Hajj pilgrims11. What it changes, and what is not yet announced, is covered in our Makkah Route explainer.
How does the waiting list work?
The waiting list exists to fill the places of selected applicants who withdraw. According to the Ministry of Habous, for Hajj 1448 a waiting list replaced withdrawals5.
For Hajj 1448, a second payment phase for waiting-list applicants, in lottery order, ran from Monday 3 to Tuesday 11 August 2026; anyone who did not pay was automatically replaced from the waiting list6.
Two lessons follow for families:
- Order counts. Waiting-list applicants were called in the order of the draw6. A parent's position on the list is the first thing to note down when results come out.
- Silence costs a place. Non-payers were replaced automatically6. If your parent is on the waiting list, someone in the family needs to watch for the announcement of a payment window and be ready to act within it.
Has the next cycle been announced?
Not yet, to our knowledge: as of 20 October 2026, no official announcement about registration for Hajj 1449 had been found3.
What we can say is how the last two cycles were timed. For Hajj 1447, applications ran from 13 to 24 January 2025 and the lottery from 23 June to 4 July 20253. For Hajj 1448, applications ran from 8 to 19 December 20251 and the lottery from 2 to 13 March 20262. In other words, each cycle opened earlier than the one before3. That is a pattern, not a promise: only the ministry's announcement fixes the dates.
The pilgrimage of the current cycle has its own estimated date. Dhu al-Hijjah 1448 would begin on 7 or 8 May 2027, with the Day of Arafah on 15 or 16 May (estimate, subject to moon sighting)9.
When the next cycle is announced, we update this page and the guide's official calendar on the same day, with the date of the announcement and its source.
What the sources do not say yet
- The conditions of the next cycle. The age limit, the 10-year rule and the companion rule are those published for Hajj 1448; the conditions for Hajj 1449 have not been announced, to our knowledge31.
- The age from which an applicant counts as elderly. The companion rule we read does not set it.
- A companion who withdraws. We found nothing on what happens to the elderly applicant's place in that case.
- Moroccans living abroad. Whether a Moroccan resident outside Morocco can apply, and how, is not stated in the sources we hold.
- Places per area. We have no source on how many places each caidat, district, prefecture or province receives.
- How the draw is carried out. No source we hold describes the method itself.
- Hajj 1448 dates: the dates of Dhu al-Hijjah 1448 remain an estimate, subject to moon sighting9.
What should a family abroad do now?
- Check the two conditions for each parent: age, and the date of any previous Hajj. Keep a note of the year of the last one.
- Decide who would accompany an older parent, and check that person's own situation against the companion rule.
- Gather the papers a parent will need later: the national ID card, and a contact at the local authority who can tell you when results are posted.
- Follow the announcement on the official calendar, which records each date with its source and the day we last checked it.
Hajj and Umrah differ in rules and seasons; if your parent is considering Umrah while waiting, read the practical side of the Umrah steps and the travel papers for Moroccans. Words such as ihram, miqat or Arafah are explained in the glossary.