Nepal Visa on Arrival: The Complete 2026 Guide

Quick summary

• Most nationalities get a tourist visa on arrival at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and at major land borders — no embassy visit before you fly. A short list of nationalities must apply in advance, so confirm yours before booking.

• On-arrival fees (USD): 15 days $30, 30 days $50, 90 days $125.

• Bring US-dollar cash. The counter is priced in USD and advises carrying cash; card machines work sometimes, not always.

• You can stay up to 150 days per visa year, and the visa year is the calendar year — it resets every 1 January. Time it right and you can legally chain close to 300 days across two visa years.

• A few days' overstay after a delayed trek is a minor pay-at-the-counter matter (about $8/day). A long overstay is a different story.

• Travelling with us? Visa guidance, airport pickup and a pre-trip briefing are part of the package — plan a custom trip.

Do you need a visa for Nepal?

Yes — but for the vast majority of travellers the visa is issued on arrival, so there is nothing to organise with an embassy beforehand. You fill a form, pay a fee in cash, and walk to the immigration desk for a stamp. The whole thing is usually quick; the only reliable way to slow it down is to arrive without dollars in your pocket.

The fee buys a multiple-entry tourist visa for the number of days you choose (15, 30 or 90), so you can pop out to a neighbour like India and come back without buying a new visa.

The arrival process at Kathmandu (TIA), step by step

The airport runs the on-arrival visa as a simple three-desk flow:

1. Fill the forms. Complete the Arrival Card and the online Tourist Visa application — either on the Department of Immigration website before you fly (the barcode receipt is valid 15 days) or at the kiosk machines in the arrivals hall. Doing it beforehand skips the kiosk queue.

2. Pay at the bank counter. Take your receipt to the visa-fee counter and pay. Official guidance is that several payment modes are accepted but carrying some cash is advised. In practice, US-dollar cash is the safe default — it sidesteps card-machine outages and poor counter rates.

3. Get the stamp at immigration. Hand the officer your passport, the completed form and the payment receipt. Stamp, and you are in.

The single biggest time-saver is having the exact fee in USD cash ready before you reach the counter. Everything else is just paperwork.

How much does the Nepal visa cost in 2026?

On-arrival tourist-visa fees are charged in US dollars:

• 15 days — $30

• 30 days — $50

• 90 days — $125

Children under 10 are typically exempt, and SAARC nationals get separate terms. Fees can change, so treat these as current-as-checked and re-confirm on the official Department of Immigration site before you travel.

Which visa length should you choose?

A simple rule: buy a little more than your planned itinerary, because mountain logistics slip. If a Lukla flight or a pass closure pushes your Everest Base Camp trek or Annapurna Base Camp trek by a few days, you do not want to be racing your own visa to the airport.

• A two- or three-week trip: the 30-day visa ($50) is the comfortable default.

• A long trek plus city and culture time: many of our guests run 20–25 days end to end, so the 30-day visa still fits with room to spare.

• A season-long stay or a workcation: go straight for the 90-day visa, then extend.

The 150-day cap — and the ~300-day "straddle"

Here is the rule most guides miss. A tourist visa is capped at 150 days per visa year, and the visa year is the calendar year (1 January–31 December), counted across all your entries. The cap resets every 1 January.

That reset is the trick. If you arrive around August and use your 150 days, then on 1 January the counter resets and you can extend again into the new calendar year. Timed well, a plain tourist visa gives you close to 300 continuous days in Nepal across two visa years — no special long-stay visa required. It is the single most useful thing a long-stay traveller or remote worker in Nepal can know.

Extending your visa

Extensions are handled in person at the Department of Immigration in Kalikasthan, Kathmandu or the Pokhara Immigration Office (there is also an online portal). It mirrors the airport: a kiosk to fill the form, then a counter to pay.

• Cost: $3/day, with a 15-day minimum (so $45 is the smallest extension).

• Multiple re-entry: add about $25 if you need it.

• Ceiling: you still cannot exceed 150 days in the visa year.

What happens if you overstay?

Be honest about the two very different cases:

• A short overstay — the classic "my trek ran two days long" — is settled at the counter: you pay the extension ($3/day) plus a late fine ($5/day), roughly $8/day. Mildly annoying, not a crisis.

• A serious overstay falls under the Immigration Act 2049, which allows fines up to NPR 50,000 and, at the extreme, deportation and a re-entry ban.

If a flight delay threatens your visa window, sort the extension before the expiry date, not after.

How we make the visa a non-event

Book a trip with EcoTourNepal and the visa stops being something you worry about:

• A pre-trip briefing tells you exactly how many dollars to carry and which visa length to buy for your itinerary.

• Airport pickup is included — after a long flight, a named driver and a vehicle with water and snacks beats haggling for a taxi in a new language.

• If your plan needs an extension, our admin team handles the legwork; you only appear in person where the law requires your signature.

Ready to plan? Talk to a Nepal travel expert or build a custom Nepal trip and we will handle the rest.