Nepal increases visa fees for foreign tourists

Kathmandu: Nepal will raise the visa fees for foreign tourists from July 17, according to a media report. The decision to hike the foreign tourist visa fees was taken in May this year as the Government had not raised the charges for almost a decade, The Himalayan Times reported citing an order from the Department of Immigration (DoI).

However, DoI officials said that the change in visa fee structure was minor and the fee structure would be revised again after the completion of the Visit Nepal Year 2020. "Change in the visa fee structure for foreign tourists is necessary to make the fee contextual," Eshor Raj Poudel, director general at DoI said.

He mentioned that significant changes in the visa fee structure were not made in view of the tourism campaign next year. "We will rework on the visa fee structure following the completion of the Visit Nepal 2020 tourism campaign," he said. The department has hiked visa fee for tourists in a range between USD 5 and USD 35. While the tourist visa fee for 15 days (multiple entry) has been raised by USD 5 to USD 30, tourist visa fee for 30 days (multiple entry) has been raised to USD 50 from USD 40, the paper reported.

Similarly, the tourist visa fee for 90 days (multiple entry) has been raised by USD 35 to USD 125, it said. The DoI has also raised the visa extension fee for the foreign tourists. "As per the department, the visa extension fee (within valid visa period) has been raised to USD 3 per day from USD 2 per day. Similarly, visa extension fee (with multiple entry) has been raised to additional USD 25 from additional USD 20," the report said. Likewise, the late fee on visa extension (after visa expiration) has been raised to USD 5 per day from USD 3 per day.