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Nepal / Asia
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Nepal makes things easy for foreign travellers. Visas are available on arrival at the international airport
in Kathmandu and at all land border crossings that are open to foreigners, as long as you have
passport photos to hand and can pay the visa fee in foreign currency (some crossings insist on
payment in US dollars). Your passport must be valid for at least six months and you will need a whole
free page for your visa.

Customs Regulations
All baggage is X-rayed on arrival and departure, though its a pretty haphazard process. In addition to
the import and export of drugs, customs is concerned with the illegal export of antiques.
You may not import Nepali rupees, and only nationals of Nepal and India may import Indian
currency.
There are no other restrictions on bringing in either cash or travellers cheques, but the amount
taken out at departure should not exceed the amount brought in.
Ocially you should declare cash or travellers cheques in excess of US$2000, or the equivalent, but
no one seems to bother with this, and it is laxly enforced.

Antiques

Customs main concern is preventing the export of antique works of art, and with good reason: Nepal
has been a particular victim of international art theft over the last 20 years.
It is very unlikely that souvenirs sold to travellers will be antique (despite the claims of the vendors),
but if there is any doubt, they should be cleared and a certificate obtained from the Department of
Archaeology in central Kathmandus National Archives building. If you visit the department between
10am and 1pm, you should be able to pick up a certificate by 5pm the same day. These controls also
apply to the export of precious and semiprecious stones.

Visas
All foreigners, except Indians, must have a visa. Nepali embassies and consulates overseas issue visas
with no fuss. You can also get one on the spot when you arrive in Nepal, either at Kathmandus
Tribhuvan Airport or at road borders at Nepalganj, Birganj/Raxaul Bazaar, Sunauli, Kakarbhitta,
Mahendranagar, Dhangadhi and even the funky Kodari checkpoint on the road to Tibet.
A Nepali visa is valid for entry for three to six months from the date of issue. Children under 10
require a visa but are not charged a visa fee. Your passport must have at least six months of validity.
Citizens of South Asian countries (except India) and China need visas, but, if you're only entering
once in a calender year then these are free.
You can download a visa application form from the websites of the Nepali embassy in Washington, DC
(www.nepalembassyusa.org) or London (www.nepembassy.org.uk).
To obtain a visa upon arrival by air in Nepal you must fill in an application form and provide a passport
photograph. Visa application forms are available on a table in the arrivals hall, though some airlines
provide this form on the flight. For people with electronic passports there are now visa registration
machines in the immigration hall which, after inserting your passport, will automatically fill out the visa
form for you. However you do it, getting through immigration can take up to an hour, depending on
the numbers. A single-entry visa valid for 15/30/90 days costs US$25/40/100. At Kathmandus
Tribhuvan Airport the fee is payable in any major currency, but at land borders ocials require
payment in cash US dollars; bring small bills. We haven't yet heard of it happening to anyone else but
the last time we entered Nepal by air and asked for a ninety day visa we were also asked to show our
driving license.
Multiple-entry visas are useful if you are planning a side trip to Tibet, Bhutan or India. You can change
your single-entry visa to a multiple-entry visa at Kathmandus Central Immigration Oce for US$20.
Dont overstay your visa. You can pay a fine of US$3 per day at the airport if you have overstayed less
than 30 days (plus a US$2 per day visa extension fee), but its far better to get it all sorted out in
advance at Kathmandus Central Immigration Oce, as a delay could cause you to miss your flight.
Its a good idea to keep a number of passport photos with your passport so they are immediately
handy for trekking permits, visa applications and other ocial documents.

Indian Visas & Re-entry Endorsements in Nepal

Many travellers get an Indian visa in Nepal but its not a straightforward process. Visa applications
must be made at the India Visa Service Centre, at the State Bank of India to the right of the embassy,
not at the embassy itself. Applications are accepted only between 9.30am and midday but it pays to
get there earlier than 9.30am so as to be one of the first people in line. You will need a printed copy of
the completed online visa form (https://indianvisaonline.gov.in), your passport, a copy of your
passport info pages and a copy of your Nepalese visa. You will also need two 51mm x 51mm passport
photos (this is larger than a standard passport photo but most passport photo places in Kathmandu
know about Indian visa regulations), and the visa fee. Five working days later you will need to return to
the embassy between 9.30am and 1pm with your passport and visa payment receipt. You will likely
have to answer a few questions confirming your visa application details. At this point you will leave
your passport with the embassy. The following working day you can collect your passport between 55.30pm hopefully with a shiny, new Indian tourist visa in it.
Visa fees for a six month tourist visa vary depending on nationality but for most nationalities it's Rs
4350. However, for Japanese passport holders it's a mere Rs 1050, for US passport holders the fee is
Rs 6450 and for UK passport holders it's a whooping Rs 13,600.
Transit visas (Rs 2300 for most nationalities) are issued the same day, but start from the date of issue
and are non-extendable.

Visa Extensions
Visa extensions are available from immigration oces in Kathmandu and Pokhara only and cost a
minimum US$30 (payable in rupees only) for a 15-day extension, plus US$2 per day after that. To
extend for 30 days is US$50 and to extend a multiple-entry visa add on US$20. If youll be in Nepal for
more than 60 days you are better o getting a 90-day visa on arrival, rather than a 60-day visa plus an
extension.
Every visa extension requires your passport, the fee, one photo and an application form which must
be completed online first. One of the questions on this online application form asks for your Nepalese
street address with house/building number. As anyone who spends more than a few days in
Kathmandu will know house numbers are very rarely used and just as rarely known. In fact most places
don't have one. The computer system will throw a bit of a paddy if you don't fill this part in so if you
don't know the number then we'd suggest getting creative and adding your favourite number. Nobody
other than the computer system really seems to care if you do this. Collect all these documents
together before you join the queue; plenty of photo shops in Kathmandu and Pokhara can make a set
of eight digital passport photos for around Rs 250.
Visa extensions are available the same day, normally within two hours, though some travellers have
paid an extra Rs 300 fee to get their extensions within 10 minutes. For a fee, trekking and travel

agencies can assist with the visa-extension process and save you the time and tedium of queuing.
You can extend a tourist visa up to a total stay of 150 days within a calendar year, though as you get
close to that maximum youll have to provide an air ticket to show youre leaving the country.
You can get up-to-date visa information at the website of the Department of Immigration
(www.nepalimmigration.gov.np).

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