Most visitors to Nepal can get a tourist visa on arrival at Tribhuvan International. It is a straightforward process that regularly takes people an hour longer than it needs to.
Before you join the queue
There are electronic kiosks in the arrivals hall where you fill in the form and it prints a receipt. You can also complete the same form online shortly before you travel and bring the printout, which lets you skip the kiosk queue entirely. In peak season that is the difference between fifteen minutes and an hour.
What it costs
Tourist visas are issued for 15, 30 or 90 days. Pay in cash if you can — card machines at the payment desk are unreliable and the queue for a working one is its own event. US dollars, euros and pounds are all accepted; change is given in rupees.
The two things that slow people down
- Passport validity. Six months from your date of arrival, and at least one blank page. This is checked at the desk and there is no way around it.
- The photograph. The kiosk takes one, but the camera is temperamental. Bring a passport photo and hand it over — it is faster.
If you are coming overland
The land borders with India issue visas on arrival too, but hours are shorter and cash is essential. If you are crossing at Sunauli or Kakarbhitta, arrive well before dark.
What we handle
Nepal's own visa is yours to get — it is genuinely easy and we would be charging you for nothing. Where our desk does help is the other direction: visit visas for Nepali passport holders travelling to the Gulf, Schengen, the USA and elsewhere, which is a different and much heavier process.
