Nepal is the gateway to the Himalayas, the highest peaks in the world. It is an extraordinary country with its own color and traditions. It is a country to which hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world travel every year. To visit Nepal you need a visa, but do not worry – it is not difficult to get it, and in this article I will give you detailed instructions with photos.
Read a detailed article about the rules of entry to Nepal
Tourist visa to Nepal is obtained at the border. The cost depends on the duration:
Attention! Due to the epidemic of coronavirus the government of Nepal has imposed a ban on entry into the country for all foreign nationals. The decree is valid until April 12, 2020. Also in Nepal until March 31 a state of emergency has been declared, which means the termination of air and road traffic within the country, the closure of hotels, cafes, stores, and a ban on free movement on the streets. Read more on the website of the Department of Immigration of Nepal.
Important: You can overstay a visa by one day. If you overstay for two or more days, you must extend or pay a large fine + extension fee of $8 for each day of overstay.
Important 2! With tourist visas you can not stay in the country more than 150 days a year.
Important 3! There is no wi-fi at Kathmandu airport. Well, it is possible to find it, but do not count on it. Everything you need – have it printed out or downloaded in advance to your devices.
And now for the Kuluar participants of treks in Nepal, and just for independent travelers, step by step and with photos will tell you the easiest way to get a visa.
To avoid long queues, you can fill in the visa application form online in advance on the official website of the Nepal Immigration Service. For this you need to have your passport, a recent photo in electronic form and the address of your hotel in Kathmandu (we will tell you the exact name and address of the hotel in the pre-departure letter). The point of entry select Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), then enter your passport details and attach a scan of your passport and photo. Submitted online application remains in the system for 15 days. After that, it will be automatically deleted from the database.
If the application for a visa is issued correctly, you will receive a receipt to the specified e-mail address, which you should print out (print it out, electronic form is not suitable) and take with the other documents. You can also print it directly from the site after the registration.
Having this receipt, you skip filling in the data in the terminal (steps 1-10) and go straight to the queue to pay for the visa (step 11).
If you did not succeed with the online application, there is nothing wrong with it, you just need to stand in one more line upon arrival. In that case follow these guidelines.
1. On the plane you will be given a form in which you have to fill in information about your arrival. It is important to accurately fill in only your personal information, the rest is not so critical. You can write Thamel (Thamel is the district of Kathmandu where we live) instead of your apartment. If you didn’t get it on the plane, you can easily find it at the airport, near the visa application machine. Open in large size >>
2. You have landed, you are taken by bus to the airport entrance. Just follow the crowd, it will lead to a large hall, where on the left side there will be machines for electronic visa application. They were put somewhere in 2015, and they really simplify the process – no need to manually fill in a bunch of fields. And you do not need to bring a printed photo 3×4. Kathmandu airport is very poor and small, so you can’t get lost there.
3. Approach the machine and touch the screen.
4. A window will pop up asking you to scan your passport. The scanning area is on the right, it is illuminated with green beams. Open the passport so that the plastic page with the data lies on the scanner. You will understand)
5. When the scanning is finished, you will see your information on the screen. You do not need to enter anything, just click next (Next)
6. The next screen is to enter your phone numbers, email, and hotel address in Tamela. We send it to you about 10 days before the start of the trek. You can actually enter any hotel, though. The fields to the right are your home address, and you don’t have to fill them in.
7. Next, we choose the type of visa we need. More precisely, its duration. Just click on the number of days. Do not touch the right box.
8. Photo. Here you have to crouch down a bit to get your face in the camera. The photo is taken automatically (you may have to press the key, I did, but I didn’t catch it much when it took a photo). If you don’t get in the camera, it rephotographs.
9. If you miss any of the required fields, you will be redirected back to fill it in. In this case all the data will be saved and you won’t have to enter it again.
10. On the final screen, when everything is filled in and there is a photo, you need to press the Print button to print the ticket with which you are going to pay.
11. you can pay for the visa only in cash. In theory, the cashier has a terminal – but in practice we have never seen it working. But from cash we accept a lot of currencies, the list:
12. After payment you will be given a check and some other paper, take everything and go to get a visa. We see signs “WITHOUT WISA” – this is where we have to go. There are a few tables where you can get a visa for 15-30 days, there are usually queues. For 90 days is issued on the right. When obtaining a visa may ask if this is your first time in Nepal and where you will be staying. Say Kathmandu, trekking and that’s it. They are not strict.
13. Congratulations, you got your visa! All that’s left is to collect your luggage. This is not the easiest task. There are only two lines, and the hall is full of people. If you get your visa quickly, you still have to wait an hour and a half for your luggage. Sometimes, if there is a long delay at the registration of the visa, airport employees take backpacks from the tape and put them on the pile of luggage nearby. So if you can’t find your backpack on the belt, look for it on the side.
IMPORTANT: Do not tear off or throw away the sticker that was hung on your luggage when you boarded. When you leave the airport, they check your luggage number against the ticket stub (it’s also important not to lose it!). This is probably the only airport in my memory where they check if it is your luggage.
14. When you exit the airport you will be immediately attacked by cab drivers – refuse and say “no” – you don’t need them, because you will be met by the guide of the Couloir Club or our man in Nepal. You will be recognized by the Couloir’s flag or signs. We come up to him, say hello, say your name and go to the hotel.
Now you can relax, you got your visa to Nepal, you got out of the airport, and the guide will tell you about the rest of the details.
