Instant Track: visiting the Rawdah more than once a year
Nusuk issues one Rawdah permit per person every 365 days when you book in advance, and that rule is still in force. What changed in January 2025 is that a second path was added — Instant Track — for people who are already standing near the Prophet’s Mosque. It is an addition, not a repeal, and the difference decides whether a second visit is possible for you.
The 365-day rule has not been withdrawn
When you reserve a Rawdah appointment ahead of time through the ordinary flow in Nusuk, the permit is issued once every 365 days for the same person. The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah restated this in January 2025, in the same round of announcements that introduced Instant Track: a visit permit is issued every 365 days for the same worshipper.
Saudi press coverage through the end of 2025 continued to describe the rule in the same terms — book once every 365 days, or use Instant Track when physically near the Prophet’s Mosque. Nothing announced since has removed the interval from advance booking.
A great many English-language articles say the annual limit was lifted in January 2025. They are reporting the launch of Instant Track and drawing the wrong conclusion from it. If you plan a second advance booking on that basis, Nusuk will refuse it, and it will refuse it after you have already told a pilgrim the visit is arranged.
What Instant Track is
Instant Track is a second way into the same appointment system. Instead of reserving a slot days ahead, it offers near-term capacity to people who are already in Madinah, close enough to the Prophet’s Mosque for the app to confirm it. The permit it issues is the ordinary permit, free and issued by Nusuk, not a different class of entry.
It arrived alongside a waiting list, which is a separate feature and is often confused with it. The waiting list registers you when nothing is available and notifies you if a slot opens, so you can confirm it. Instant Track issues the appointment there and then, if there is room at that moment.
Both live inside Nusuk. Neither is a separate application, a paid tier, or something an intermediary can perform on your behalf.
The location condition is the whole design
Instant Track is only offered when the app can confirm you are near the Prophet’s Mosque. It checks your device location to do that, so location services have to be enabled for Nusuk, and enabled at the moment you book rather than in principle.
This is not an obstacle to be routed around. It is the reason the feature works. Capacity released at short notice is only of use to someone who can walk to the mosque within the hour, and confining it to people who are already there is what stops it being consumed instantly by everyone with an internet connection.
It follows that Instant Track cannot be used from home, from another city, or by an office booking on a pilgrim’s behalf from somewhere else. If the pilgrim is not there, this path is not open, whatever a site selling remote booking claims.
What availability actually looks like
Availability under Instant Track is governed by the mosque’s capacity, and it is not continuous. Saudi coverage of the launch described new slots appearing at roughly twenty-minute intervals. Treat that as the shape of the thing rather than a timetable: it describes behaviour reported in early 2025, and crowd management changes with the season. Nusuk is the authority on what exists on any given day.
Nothing about the feature guarantees anything. In Ramadan and at peak hours a second visit may not be available at all, however close you are standing. No announcement has set a minimum interval between one Instant Track visit and the next, so treat claims of a fixed cooling-off period — thirty days is the number usually quoted — as unsourced.
The practical reading is that a second visit is possible, worth trying for, and not something to promise anyone before it exists.
What Instant Track does not change
The permit remains free and remains obtainable only through Nusuk. Instant Track did not create a paid channel or a priority channel, and nobody can sell you access to one.
Everything else about the visit applies unchanged: separate visiting periods for men and women, the appointment bound to the passport and account it was issued against, the barcode checked at the entrance, the short visit inside. A permit obtained through Instant Track is subject to all of it.
One widely repeated tip is worth naming so you can ignore it. Switching the Nusuk app to Arabic does not reveal slots that the English interface hides. The same system sits behind both, and the belief costs people the seconds they spend changing settings while a release is open.
For an agency moving groups
Instant Track is a pilgrim’s tool rather than an operator’s. It belongs to whoever is physically near the mosque with a verified account and location switched on, which means the useful thing an agency can do with it is brief the group leader properly: look while you are near the mosque, keep location enabled, and expect an empty screen most times you check.
The other half of the problem is advance booking, and there the 365-day rule is the planning constraint. A pilgrim who used their permit on a previous Umrah cannot be booked ahead again within the year. Finding that out at intake is an inconvenience; finding it out in Madinah is a complaint. Check the interval before the itinerary is sold.
RawdahPass works on the advance side only, for licensed agencies, and the claim is deliberately narrow: it shortens the interval between a release existing and someone acting on it. It does not create appointments, does not exempt anyone from the 365-day rule, has no affiliation with Nusuk, and cannot guarantee a permit — Nusuk offers guaranteed access to nobody.
Frequently asked
Can I visit the Rawdah twice in the same trip?
Possibly, through Instant Track, which is open to people physically near the Prophet’s Mosque and depends on capacity at that moment. Advance booking is still limited to one permit every 365 days, so a second advance reservation will be refused.
Was the once-a-year Rawdah rule cancelled in 2025?
No. Instant Track was added in January 2025 as an extra path, and the ministry restated at the same time that a visit permit is issued every 365 days for the same worshipper. Many articles report this incorrectly.
Can I use Instant Track from my hotel or from home?
It is only offered when Nusuk can confirm from your device location that you are near the Prophet’s Mosque, so it is not usable from another city or country. Location services must be enabled at the time you book.
How often do Instant Track slots appear?
Coverage of the launch described new availability at roughly twenty-minute intervals, subject to capacity. There is no published schedule, it varies with crowd management, and Nusuk is the authority on any given day.
Does switching the Nusuk app to Arabic show more Rawdah slots?
No. This is folklore, repeated on a lot of sites. The language setting changes the interface and nothing else; availability is identical in both languages.