I hope you guys find this information helpful. In short, download the app and play around with it. Check it every hour and every half hour. When the days to visiting madinah is close, watch the app like a hawk. May Almighty bless all of us, accept our prayers and supplications and allow all of us to make this journey. Ameen. This was my experience and please forgive me if there is any mistake. I believe this information should be public and I hope it helps us all.

I am going to Umrah between Dec 23 and Jan 3rd, with first 6 days in Madinah and the rest in Makkah, inshaallah. Having played the check and wait game for three days, I found out that slots actually open up for the following week on Friday mornings. I checked Friday morning at 6:15 – 6:30 a.m. and all slots for the following week, starting Saturday, were green (open). I booked mine and got the permit through the nusuk app, alhamdulillah. Once everything goes to orange, red and then grey out as slots fill up, there will still be a few that pop up once in a while as people cancel or additional slots open up. Best best is really to target anywhere from 5:30 a.m. Eastern time and keep trying until they open up. Once you see green, plan to already know which date and time you want to take so you don’t get overwhelmed with perfection paralysis and wait too long and end up missing out. Good luck.

The slots open every hour on the dot and every half hour for two minutes only. Be sure to check at that time and book