Nepal Visa Requirements

Nepal’s tourist visa comes in three lengths, priced the same on arrival, online or at an embassy, and every option is multiple-entry so you can leave for India or Tibet and come back within its validity. The stay is counted from the day you enter Nepal, not the day the visa was issued.

Do the maths before choosing. A 30-day visa plus a 15-day extension costs $95, cheaper than the $125 90-day visa if you will stay 45 days or less; the 90-day visa only pays off for stays of about 55 days or more. Fees are in US dollars; at the airport you can pay at the bank counter in dollars or other major currencies, and cards are often accepted but not guaranteed, so carry the exact amount in clean dollar notes.

Visa on arrival is how most travellers enter Nepal, and the process at Tribhuvan Airport has three steps. First, fill in the online Tourist Visa form on the Department of Immigration website up to 15 days before you land and print or save the barcoded submission receipt; if you have not done it, use the kiosk machines in the arrival hall, which take a photo and scan your passport but often have long queues when two or three wide-body flights land together. Second, pay the fee at the bank counter and keep the receipt. Third, take the form, receipt and passport to the immigration desk for your stamp.

Bring a passport valid for at least six months, and in practice a printed or offline copy of your hotel address. Officers rarely ask for an onward ticket or proof of funds, but carry both. Allow 30 to 90 minutes from landing to the baggage hall in peak trekking months (October, November, March and April) if you did not do the form in advance. Visa on arrival is also issued at the international airports in Pokhara and Bhairahawa, and at the main land borders listed below.

Citizens of twelve countries cannot get a visa on arrival and must apply before they travel through a Nepalese embassy or the mission portal: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Eswatini (Swaziland), Ethiopia, Ghana, Iraq, Liberia, Nigeria, Palestine, Somalia, Syria and Zimbabwe.

The Department of Immigration now runs a full online visa through its Nepaliport system, listed as an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) or eVisa. You fill in your personal and passport details and travel dates, upload a passport scan and a recent photo with a white background, and pay $30, $50 or $125 by card. The approved visa is emailed to you; check your spam folder, print it and carry it. It must be used within six months of issue, and like every Nepal visa it cannot be refunded or withdrawn once issued.

The eVisa is the better choice if you land in the evening or at peak times, since you skip both the kiosk and the bank counter. It is also the route for anyone who wants certainty before boarding. If your country has a Nepalese embassy, you can apply through the mission portal instead, which is required for the twelve nationalities without visa on arrival; processing time and payment methods then vary by embassy.

Tourist visas can be extended inside Nepal up to a combined total of 150 days per visa year, which runs from January to December. An extension costs $3 per day with a minimum charge of 15 days ($45), so a 20-day extension is $60. Apply online through the Nepaliport extension page, then visit the Department of Immigration at Kalikasthan in Kathmandu or the Immigration Office in Pokhara with your passport and a passport photo; you can pay in rupees at the day’s rate. Offices open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm in summer and 9am to 4pm from mid-November to late January, with short hours on public holidays.

If you want to leave and re-enter Nepal on an extended visa, the fee table lists a $25 multiple re-entry supplement; ask for it when you extend. Plan extensions around festivals: the office closes for several days during Dashain and Tihar in October and November, exactly when trekkers return from the hills. Because the 150-day limit is per calendar year, a traveller who arrives in late autumn can use the remaining days of one year and a fresh allowance from 1 January, but expect questions at immigration if you visit repeatedly on tourist visas.

Overstaying is costly but not dramatic if it is short and you deal with it before leaving. The Department of Immigration charges a late fine of $5 per day, on top of the regular extension fee for the days overstayed. A trekker stuck by a cancelled Lukla flight for three days would therefore pay the 15-day minimum extension ($45) plus $15 in fines. Settle it at the Department of Immigration in Kathmandu before your flight if you can; the airport desk can process it but will delay you.

Overstays that run past the 150-day annual limit, or that go unpaid for weeks, are treated as a breach of the Immigration Act and can lead to detention, deportation and a ban on returning. Working on a tourist visa, including paid volunteering, is also prohibited.

Indian citizens do not need a visa or any fee to enter Nepal and can stay and work without a permit, under the 1950 treaty between the two countries. Bring a valid Indian passport or an Election Commission of India voter ID card; airlines flying to Kathmandu accept either. Other documents such as a driving licence or Aadhaar card are not accepted as primary ID for air travel. Children should carry their own passport or photo ID with a birth certificate. Indian nationals still need TIMS and park permits for trekking, at the lower SAARC rates, and the guide requirement applies to them too.

SAARC nationals (Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) get a free visa of up to 30 days on their first visit in each calendar year; a second visit in the same year is charged at the normal rates. Afghan citizens are an exception and need a Department of Immigration recommendation. Chinese nationals receive gratis tourist visas for up to 150 days per visa year. Children under 10 of all nationalities except the United States get a free visa of up to 30 days; the 90-day visa is charged in full. US citizens can instead buy a reciprocal five-year tourist visa for $160 allowing 180 days a year, which suits frequent visitors but requires a bank statement, health insurance and a police report.

Foreign tourists can get a visa on arrival at the immigration offices on the main land crossings. From India the busiest are Belahiya near Bhairahawa (opposite Sunauli, the route from Varanasi and to Lumbini), Birgunj (from Raxaul, the route from Kolkata and Patna), Kakarbhitta in the far east (from Siliguri and Darjeeling), Jamunaha near Nepalgunj, Mohana near Dhangadhi and Gaddachowki near Mahendranagar. From Tibet, travellers cross at Rasuwagadhi, the gateway to the Langtang region, with Kodari also designated.

At Indian border posts, non-Indian travellers must get an Indian exit stamp at the Indian immigration office, which is easy to walk past, before crossing to the Nepali side; without it you will have problems leaving India later. Bring fees in US dollars cash, since card payment is rarely available at land borders, and passport photos. Overland arrivals are the moment the multiple-entry visa earns its keep: a Nepal-India-Nepal loop within a 30-day visa costs nothing extra.

A visa only gets you into the country. Most treks need a TIMS card (2,000 rupees for foreigners) and a national park or conservation area permit (3,000 rupees for Sagarmatha, Annapurna or Langtang), and since April 2023 foreign trekkers must hire a licensed guide in most protected areas, with the permit issued through a registered agency. Restricted areas such as Upper Mustang, Dolpa and the Manaslu Circuit need a special permit issued by the Department of Immigration through an agency, for groups of at least two. Routes, permit costs and guide rules are covered in our Nepal trekking guide, and budgets in our Nepal costs page.

Remote work on a tourist visa occupies a grey area: Nepal has no digital nomad visa, and a tourist visa does not permit employment with a Nepali company. Longer legal stays require a non-tourist visa (work, study, business or residential), each with its own sponsoring ministry and monthly fee. For help in an emergency, including lost passports, see our Nepal emergency page.