Quick summary
Nepal’s Department of Immigration e-Visa portal is live as of 15 October 2026, after the fully digital system went live on 17 August 2026. Applications are filed online before departure and approvals typically arrive by email within about 24 hours, so the tourist visa no longer has to be settled at a Kathmandu counter.
Timing is the catch: the pre-arrival online form opens 15 days before departure, and an ETA can stay valid up to six months from issue. Here is how the three entry routes compare and what to carry.
Nepal’s Department of Immigration launched its fully digital e-Visa on 17 August 2026. For tourists, that moved the visa application from an arrival counter to a laptop before departure.
It reverses an assumption travelers carried into this year. A Nepal tourist visa had been a transaction completed at Tribhuvan International Airport after a long-haul flight. The arrival counter still exists. But it is now one of three routes rather than the only one.
For anyone flying into Kathmandu this autumn, the wrong route can mean a second queue after a long flight, or a document that does not match the trip booked.
The facts here hold as of 15 October 2026.
What went live on 17 August 2026
The launch was reported by visasnews.com, and the department’s portal was still accepting tourist visa applications on 15 October 2026. Approvals typically reach applicants by email within about 24 hours, according to the launch reporting.
The change is where the transaction happens. Before the rollout, tourists handled the visa at a counter on arrival. Now the same application can be filed and approved weeks before departure. The shift matters for planning rather than cost.
A traveler who treated the visa as an arrival-hall task now faces that choice before booking. The older pre-arrival online form, meanwhile, still opens on its own schedule.
Superdeals cover departures from North America, Europe and Australia.
Flight deals most people never see
Air Traveler Club monitors thousands of routes for pricing anomalies that traditional search engines miss. With ATC Superdeals members save up to 80% on each flight vs. regular fares.
Too good to be true? Check it out yourself. It's free.
Delivered weekly. Unsubscribe anytime.
The three entry routes and their timing
The three routes differ in when you file, how long the authorization lasts and where you handle the paperwork.
The first is the pre-travel e-Visa; the department’s user manual for the e-Visa request covers the filing steps. The second is the older pre-arrival online form, which opens 15 days before departure and returns a barcode. That filing window and the nationalities that must arrange a visa before boarding are set out in the walkthrough of that form. The third is visa on arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport, still available for eligible nationalities, with the form and payment completed after landing.
Validity draws the sharpest line between them. The Embassy of Nepal in London states that an ETA can remain valid for up to six months from the date it is issued, unlike a form completed on the day you land. A trip booked in spring for an autumn trek sits comfortably inside that span.
The pre-travel route puts the paperwork before departure. The airport route leaves the transaction until after a long-haul flight, when travelers are least fresh.
Visa on arrival step order has changed
At Tribhuvan International Airport, visa on arrival is not a single desk. The sequence now runs: the online tourist visa form first, then the bank payment counter, then immigration clearance.
Treating that sequence as one transaction costs time. The form settles the details before any money changes hands, and the payment counter is a separate stop rather than part of the immigration queue.
The department’s visa-on-arrival page is the reference for passport eligibility. An assumption left unresolved can become a problem at the counter, or at the boarding gate.
Pre-departure practicalities
Official guidance advises cash for the visa fee. Cards are the least reliable way to clear the payment counter; the case for clean dollar notes explains why the terminal is the weak link.
A pre-travel approval does not remove the immigration desk. Travelers holding an e-Visa or ETA approval still pass through immigration at Tribhuvan International Airport: the online step settles paperwork, not inspection. Build the desk into your onward plans rather than around it.
A phone screenshot is not the same as a page in your hand when the battery is flat. The desk works from documents it can read.
Eligibility is harder to establish because the official materials do not publish every restriction in one place. That leaves the passport question unresolved for travelers who rely on an assumption rather than the published rules.
The fortnight before departure
The fortnight before your flight is the filing window for the pre-arrival online form.
- Check eligibility first: open the Department of Immigration’s visa-on-arrival page and confirm your passport is covered before you book anything non-refundable.
- Print the approval: carry a paper copy of the emailed approval, and the barcode if the form returned one, kept separate from your passport.
- Carry exact US dollars: small, clean notes held apart from spending money, because cards are the least reliable way to clear the payment counter.
- Watch: whether the Department of Immigration publishes one consolidated eligibility list; if it does, the passport check gets faster and the arrival counter becomes a safer fallback.
Two months into the system, the department’s visa pages remain the reference point for the process as it stands on 15 October 2026.
Reporting by
Questions? Answers.
How long does it take to get a Nepal visa online?
About 24 hours is the figure in the launch guidance: approvals typically arrive by email within that period. The pre-arrival online form and the e-Visa are not the same document, so check which one you filed before you assume an approval is on its way.
Can I get a visa on arrival in Kathmandu airport?
Yes, for eligible nationalities. Visa on arrival remains available at Tribhuvan International Airport, and travelers who arrive with no pre-registration complete the online tourist visa form on the spot rather than before departure.
Which is better, eVisa or visa on arrival?
The e-Visa wins when you want the uncertainty gone before departure, because approval arrives by email and the airport becomes a single immigration stop. Visa on arrival remains the fallback where eligibility is clear and you are content to complete the form and the payment after landing.
What is the difference between an ETA and an eVisa?
The e-Visa is the fully digital approval tied to the online application that launched on 17 August 2026. The ETA is a pre-travel authorization with its own validity window: the Embassy of Nepal in London states it can remain valid for up to six months from issue, which is what makes it useful for a trek booked well ahead.
What happens if I arrive in Kathmandu without pre-registration?
Visa on arrival is still processed at the airport for eligible nationalities, so the route is not refused by default. The difference is sequence: the form, the payment and the clearance all happen after landing, and official guidance advises carrying the fee in cash.
