Frequently asked questions and pitfalls

Yes, in the Department of Immigration's own words: it calls its ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) an “eVisa”: online form and payment, QR-coded authorisation received by email. The portal also lets you, without an ETA, fill in the form and pay before leaving, which spares you two of the three steps at the airport. In both cases, the sticker goes into your passport at the immigration desk on arrival, even with an ETA or an embassy authorisation (unless the embassy already stuck it in). Nobody skips that last desk.

Same portal, same form, same price. With Visa on Arrival, you pay right away and get a receipt. With the ETA (the official site's “eVisa”), immigration reviews your file first (a few hours to three working days), then you pay and download a QR-coded authorisation, valid 6 months, under Digital Time Card. At the airport, both give the same direct walk to the immigration desk. The ETA is slightly more reassuring, the online Visa on Arrival is simpler and has no daily quota.

For the online Visa on Arrival (online form, with or without payment): within 15 days before arrival, not earlier, the form expires. For an ETA or an embassy visa: at least one to two weeks ahead, the authorisation is then valid for 6 months.

immigration.gov.np, nepaliport.immigration.gov.np and nepaliport-new.immigration.gov.np. The Department of Immigration has published a notice about fraudulent sites that imitate the portal and collect “visa fees”. Private online agencies charge extra without speeding anything up.

Yes, every duration is multiple entry at no extra cost. You can leave Nepal and come back as long as the visa runs: the duration counts from your first entry, not from the number of days spent in the country. Once the visa has expired, coming back means a new visa, within the 150 days per calendar year (fees).

Print if you can: the form and, if applicable, the payment receipt. Officers generally accept a readable screenshot on your phone. For an ETA or an embassy authorisation, the printed QR code is expected.

Not the tourist visa. You enter on it, then apply at the Department of Immigration in Kathmandu for a study, working, business or residential (retirees) visa, with the recommendation of a Nepali organisation. Visa types, sponsors, durations and fees: other visas.

If you stay in the international area without collecting your bags, no. If you have to go through (bags to re-check, a night in Kathmandu, a domestic flight the next day), there is a 24-hour transit visa for USD 5, non-extendable, issued on proof of onward travel: same form, payment, then the “Transit Visa” desk. Beyond 24 hours, take the 15-day tourist visa.

Yes, the Department of Immigration caps the number of ETA applications per day. When the quota is reached, the form locks with this message. Try again early the next morning, Nepal time (UTC+5:45), or use the online Visa on Arrival instead (online form, with or without payment), which has no such limit and gives the same direct walk at the airport if you pay online.

It happens, especially with banks that block payments to Nepal by default. Try another card, or enable foreign payments in your banking app. If nothing works, keep your printed form and pay at the airport payment counter (online form, pay on arrival). You only lose the payment-counter skip.

Write to support@nchl.com.np with your Submission ID, a screenshot of the double charge and your visa form. Refunds are slow, more than a month, as they go through Nepal's public accounting. To avoid it: click once, don't reload the page, and check the status on the card-payment page before any retry.

Check your spam folder: emails from the Department of Immigration often land there. For the payment, you can always retrieve the receipt on nepaliport-new.immigration.gov.np/card-payment with your Submission ID. For an ETA, the document is not attached to the email: download it under Digital Time Card → Print ETA.

The Department of Immigration's sites have an incomplete certificate setup, known for years. On phones it usually works, on some computers a warning appears. Above all, check that the address ends in .gov.np. Never pay on any other domain.

Yes, the payment counter accepts the main convertible currencies (euros, pounds, yen, Australian dollars…) at the day's rate, often a slightly poor one. The US dollar remains the reference. An ATM and an exchange counter are in the hall if needed. At land borders, bring US dollars in small bills: nothing else is guaranteed. The full breakdown by place is on the Fees page.

Not always. The payment counter has a terminal, but it is regularly out of order or refuses foreign cards. Don't count on it: bring US dollars (or another major currency) in cash, or pay online before you leave. At land borders, cash only.

The same visa at the same price, but a single counter: no kiosks and no separate payment counter. Paper form on the spot (or the printed online form), payment in US dollars cash only, sticker placed right away. The posts concerned and their seasonal closures are in the “Overland” note of the visa on arrival page. Entered Nepal overland recently? Your experience helps us complete this page: what you saw, paid and waited. Write to us.

Under-10s get the visa free (except US citizens). You still need one form per child, online or at the kiosks, and you go through the immigration desk together. Documents and passport pitfalls for children are on the Requirements page.

The visa gives 15, 30 or 90 days from entry, multiple entry. You can extend in Nepal up to a total of 150 days per calendar year. A stay straddling two years gets a fresh counter on 1 January.

The visa is the same for everyone: 15, 30 or 90 days, multiple entry. For a trek, allow a margin: a big trek is often 10 to 20 walking days, plus your days in Kathmandu and Pokhara and the odd flight or weather delay. 30 days covers almost every case; 90 days only pays off if you chain two big treks (our duration calculator). Trekking permits (TIMS, national parks, restricted areas) are a separate formality, unrelated to the visa. To choose and plan your trek: Trek Nepal, our companion site.

Go to the Department of Immigration, in Kathmandu or Pokhara, before heading to the airport. You will pay the missing extension (USD 3 per day, 15-day minimum) plus a USD 5 per day fine, and leave with a valid stamp. Without regularising, it is the same payment at the airport, with the stress and the risk of missing your flight on top. Beyond 150 days of overstay, a fine of up to 50,000 rupees (≈ €290) and possible deportation (extension).

Three steps, in order: a police report (required for everything afterwards), an emergency or new passport from your embassy in Kathmandu, then the Department of Immigration to have the visa transferred into the new document (“visa transfer” service), with the police report and, if possible, a copy of the old visa and entry stamp. Without that last step you cannot leave the country. Hence the value of a photo of your passport and visa on your phone (passport pitfalls).

No. The tourist visa allows no activity, paid or unpaid: no employment, volunteering, teaching or research. Those need other visas (work, study, business…), applied for with the support of a Nepali organisation; none is issued on arrival. In practice, a few weeks of volunteering on a small farm are tolerated: see the volunteering page on Visit Nepal. Trekking, yoga or cooking classes and business meetings without a contract remain tourism.