- The foreign tourist visiting Nepal shall be granted the tourist visa.
- The tourist visa shall be granted for a period in maximum of 150 days in a visa year (Visa years means January to December).
- A tourist who has departed before the expiry of the period specified in the visa issued in a visa year shall not be allowed to use the visa by adding the remaining period to another visa year.
- If any foreigner who has entered into Nepal towards the end of a visa year desires to spend even the period during which he may stay in Nepal with the tourist visa of the other visa year, he may use such facility.
A single entry visa valid for 15/30/90 days costs US$25/40/100
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 Kathmandu’s Central Immigration Office for US$20. Don’t 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 it’s far better to get it all sorted out in advance at Kathmandu’s Central Immigration Office, as a delay could cause you to miss your flight. It’s 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 official documents.
Visa Extensions
Visa extensions are available from immigration offices 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 you’ll be in Nepal for more than 60 days you are better off getting a 90 day visa on arrival, rather than a 60day 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 you’ll have to provide an air ticket to show you’re leaving the country.