Nepal visa and entry requirements

The visa on arrival, which is most people's route

• Nationals of all but 13 countries can buy a tourist visa on landing, at Kathmandu and at the land borders with India and China.
• The fees are in US dollars: USD 30 for 15 days, USD 50 for 30 days, USD 125 for 90 days. They are per person and the clock starts on the day you enter.
• Multiple entry is included in all three, which matters if you plan a side trip to India or Bhutan and come back.
• Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months beyond the date you arrive.
• Fill in the application online before you fly. The Department of Immigration form can be submitted up to 15 days before arrival; you land with a submission receipt and skip the kiosk queue entirely.

The three queues, in order

1. The kiosks, in the arrivals hall, if you did not apply online. They print a receipt with a barcode. They jam, and there is no one to fix them.
2. The bank counter, where you pay. This is the one to prepare for.
3. The immigration desk, which takes the receipt and the payment slip and stamps you in.

• Bring clean US dollar notes. Cards are accepted and the terminal works most of the time, and when it does not there is no cash machine before immigration.
• Torn, taped or heavily marked dollar bills get refused at the counter, as do pre-2009 series notes at some windows.
• Other major currencies are usually accepted at the visa counter - euros, sterling, Australian and Canadian dollars - at a rate you will not enjoy.
• Nepali rupees are not accepted for the visa fee.

Who pays nothing, and who cannot use it

• Indian nationals need no visa at all and may enter on a passport or on an Indian voter ID card. Flying in, carry the passport.
• Chinese nationals pay no visa fee, under the tourism arrangement between the two countries. The visa itself is still issued on arrival.
• SAARC nationals - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka - get a free 30-day visa once per calendar year. Afghanistan is excluded.
• Children under 10 are free.
• Thirteen nationalities cannot use the visa on arrival at all and must apply at a Nepali mission in advance: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iraq, Liberia, Nigeria, Palestine, Somalia, Eswatini, Syria and Zimbabwe, plus holders of refugee travel documents.

Extending, and the ceiling nobody mentions

• Extensions are applied for online through the Department of Immigration and then collected in person in Kathmandu or Pokhara.
• The cost is USD 3 per day, with a 15-day minimum of USD 45.
• You may stay 150 days in one calendar year, total, however you slice it. That is a calendar year, not a rolling one, so a January arrival resets on 1 January.
• Overstaying is treated as an offence, not an oversight: a daily fine, and at the extremes a bar on returning. Sort the extension before the visa runs out, not at the airport.

Where your nationality lands

• Trekking permits are separate from the visa and are covered in the section on getting around. Nobody sells you both at once.