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Nepal's Tourist Visa Goes Fully Digital on August 17, 2026 — What Actually Changes at the Airport
In twelve days, Nepal's Department of Immigration switches on a nationwide e-Visa system that lets trekkers apply, pay and get approved before they ever board a flight to Kathmandu.
At a glance
- Published
- TopicFlights & Access
- Verified againstVisasNews
- Treks coveredEverest Base Camp Trek — 14 Days, Manaslu Circuit Trek — 14 Days, Annapurna Base Camp Trek — 9 Days
Twelve days from now, the sticker in your passport starts to disappear. On August 17, 2026, Nepal's Department of Immigration switches its tourist visa system fully digital — trekkers will apply, pay and get approved online before they ever board a flight to Kathmandu, then print their own visa instead of queuing for one at the airport.
Key facts
- Full e-Visa rollout begins August 17, 2026, per Department of Immigration spokesperson Tikaram Dhakal.
- Applications go through nepaliport-new.immigration.gov.np; approval takes about 24 hours and arrives by email to print yourself.
- Visa-on-arrival is not being scrapped — it continues alongside the e-Visa, with no phase-out announced.
- Nationals of 12 countries still cannot get a visa on arrival at all and must apply in advance regardless.
The mechanics matter more than the headline. Nepal has offered visa-on-arrival to most nationalities for years — you'd land at Tribhuvan International Airport, fill out a paper form or use a kiosk, pay in cash or card, and walk through with a sticker in your passport, all in under an hour on a good day. That option isn't going away on August 17. What's new is a genuine e-Visa: an online application, submitted before departure, that returns an approved visa by email that you print and carry, skipping the airport queue and the on-the-spot paperwork entirely.
To apply, you'll provide your passport details, travel dates, a Nepal address (your first hotel or trekking agency works), a passport photo page scan and a recent photograph. The Department of Immigration says processing typically takes about 24 hours. The fee structure carries over unchanged from the current visa-on-arrival tiers:
| Duration | Fee (USD) |
|---|---|
| 15 days | $30 |
| 30 days | $50 |
| 90 days | $125 |
| Children under 10 | Free* |
*Except U.S. citizens, capped at a 30-day stay. SAARC nationals get one free 30-day visa per year; NRN cardholders travel free.
That last figure hasn't changed and won't on August 17: citizens of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iraq, Liberia, Nigeria, Palestine, Somalia, Syria and Zimbabwe have never been eligible for visa-on-arrival and must secure a visa in advance through a Nepali embassy or consulate regardless of the new digital option. For nearly everyone else — including U.S., UK, EU, Australian and Canadian trekkers, who make up the bulk of our own bookings — the on-arrival counter remains open. The e-Visa is an alternative, not a replacement, at least for now.
What this means for trekkers
What this means for you
If you're flying in for a big autumn trek — Everest Base Camp, Annapurna, Manaslu — this is worth using even though it isn't mandatory yet. Arriving after a long-haul flight to a shorter queue, rather than a slower on-arrival form-and-cash line, is a real difference when you land at 10pm and need to be up early for your Lukla or Pokhara connection the next morning. Apply through the official government portal only — never a third-party site that charges a mark-up for the same government fee. And remember the e-Visa only covers entry into Nepal itself: your TIMS card and any regional permit (ACAP for Annapurna, the restricted-area permits for Manaslu or Upper Mustang) are separate applications your guide or agency still needs to handle once you're on the ground. See our full Nepal visa guide for nationality-specific rules and the permit pages for trekking-specific paperwork.
Nepal's tourism authorities have leaned into digital-first processes in recent years — TIMS cards can already be pre-registered, and the immigration department has been testing this e-Visa portal in limited form for months before committing to the August 17 full launch. For an industry that depends on international arrivals recovering past pre-pandemic levels, cutting airport friction is a small but real signal that Nepal wants the arrival experience to match the scale of the trekking on the other side of it.
Source: VisasNews, citing Nepal Department of Immigration spokesperson Tikaram Dhakal.
Cover photo: Bijay Chaurasia via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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