Nepal Border Crossings: India & China Land Points Guide

Nepal is a landlocked country wedged between India to the east, south and west and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north. Its 1,751-kilometre frontier with India (about 1,088 miles) is famously an open border: citizens of both countries may cross without a passport or visa, and villages, markets and families straddle the line at hundreds of informal points. Its 1,389-kilometre Himalayan frontier with China is the opposite: a small number of high, tightly controlled passes that open and close with the seasons, road conditions and bilateral trade decisions.

This difference is why search intent around Nepal's borders is so specific. A traveller asking 'is Birgunj border open' usually wants to know whether goods and buses are moving through the Terai lowlands, while someone asking 'is Rasuwagadhi border open' is checking a mountain trade-and-pilgrimage route that is often shut for weeks. This page treats the whole family of crossings as one reference: the six India-side immigration points where foreign nationals may enter and exit, plus the key China points, each with its opposite town, district, province, road link and operational notes.

Two Nepal government bodies matter at every crossing. The Department of Immigration, under the Ministry of Home Affairs, controls the movement of people, stamps passports and issues visas on arrival. The Department of Customs, under the Ministry of Finance, clears goods and collects customs duty, value added tax (VAT) and excise. A single town such as Birgunj therefore hosts both an immigration office and a customs office that operate side by side but under different laws.

For Indian nationals the India-Nepal border is effectively borderless. Under the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Indian and Nepali citizens travel, live and work across the line without a visa; an Indian citizen typically needs only a passport or a Voter ID (election card) issued by the Election Commission of India to prove nationality. Because of this, most India-side crossings function primarily as customs and goods checkpoints rather than immigration barriers for locals.

Third-country foreign nationals are treated differently. They must enter and exit only through designated points, where the Department of Immigration issues a visa on arrival and stamps their passport. Entering or leaving through an undesignated point is an offence under the Immigration Act and Regulations. Foreign travellers can obtain a tourist visa on arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu and at the six India-border land immigration offices; a few nationalities are excluded from visa-on-arrival and must arrange a visa in advance.

At the China border the rules are stricter still. Rasuwagadhi is the main point open to third-country nationals, and travellers generally move in organised groups for the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage or Tibet tours, needing a Chinese/Tibet travel permit arranged before departure. Nepal-side immigration checks passport and visa validity before allowing exit toward the border bridge.

Nepal designates six land points along the Indian border where foreign nationals may officially enter and exit and receive a visa on arrival. All six sit in the flat Terai lowlands, generally below about 200 metres, and each faces a matching Indian town across a short bridge or road. Running from the far east to the far west, they anchor the country's main highway gateways.

Birgunj-Raxaul and Belahiya-Sunauli are the two heaviest crossings. Birgunj, in Parsa district of Madhesh Province, faces Raxaul in Bihar and is Nepal's single busiest gateway for both people and trade, linked to the Indian rail network and to seaports at Kolkata and Visakhapatnam through the nearby Sirsiya dry port. Belahiya, in Rupandehi district of Lumbini Province, faces Sunauli in Uttar Pradesh and is the classic overland route between Kathmandu/Pokhara and Varanasi or Gorakhpur, which is why 'Sunauli to Bhairahawa border' is such a common query.

The remaining points serve the east and far west. Kakarbhitta, in Jhapa district of Koshi Province, faces Panitanki in West Bengal and is the eastern gateway toward Siliguri, Darjeeling and the rest of northeast India. In the far west, Jamunaha near Nepalgunj (Banke, Lumbini) faces Rupaidiha in Uttar Pradesh; Mohana at Dhangadhi (Kailali, Sudurpashchim) faces Gauriphanta in Uttar Pradesh; and Gaddachauki at Bhimdatta/Mahendranagar (Kanchanpur, Sudurpashchim) faces Banbasa in Uttarakhand, the westernmost official crossing.

Birgunj is often called the 'gateway to Nepal.' The Birgunj-Raxaul corridor carries the largest share of Nepal's overland trade, and the Sirsiya (Birgunj) Inland Container Depot, Nepal's first dry port, connects the crossing by rail to Kolkata and Visakhapatnam, making Birgunj Customs the country's highest-earning customs office. The town is the northern end of a road and rail link that effectively serves as Nepal's main import artery, so disruptions here ripple through fuel, cooking gas and consumer-goods supplies nationwide.

The Belahiya-Sunauli crossing is the most-used route for tourists and pilgrims moving between the Indian plains and central Nepal. Belahiya lies just south of Bhairahawa (officially Siddharthanagar) in Rupandehi, close to Gautam Buddha International Airport and about 20 kilometres from Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha. Direct buses and shared jeeps run between Sunauli on the Indian side and Bhairahawa, from where onward transport reaches Kathmandu, Pokhara and Lumbini.

Both crossings operate every day, and for local and Indian traffic they are open long hours; foreign-national immigration desks keep extended service, though exact counter hours can vary by post and season. Because these are the country's economic lifelines, they are also the first to be affected by strikes (bandh), festival rushes and occasional border blockades, which is why their open/closed status is searched so frequently.

Nepal's northern frontier has roughly half a dozen recognised crossing points, but only a few function as international crossings at any given time. The two principal road crossings are Rasuwagadhi-Kerung and Tatopani-Kodari, both in Bagmati Province and both feeding trade toward Kathmandu. Rasuwagadhi, in Rasuwa district at about 1,850 metres, faces Gyirong (Kerung/Kyirong) in Tibet and became an international crossing point in 2017, opening it to third-country travellers; it is today the main land route for the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage and the busiest Nepal-China trade point.

Tatopani, in Sindhupalchok district at about 1,760 metres, faces Zhangmu (Khasa) at the head of the Araniko Highway and was Nepal's original modern China crossing, operating since 1968. It was devastated by the April 2015 (Baishakh 2072 BS) earthquake and stayed effectively closed for around eight and a half years, reopening to two-way trade in 2023 and to travellers later that year. Even so, the Kodari route is repeatedly blocked by monsoon landslides, so its day-to-day status is unstable.

Three higher and more remote points complete the picture. Korala, in Upper Mustang (Gandaki Province) at roughly 4,620 metres, is the highest crossing and links to Nechung/Lizi in Tibet; it has been used for seasonal trade and vehicle imports but closes in deep winter. Hilsa, in Humla district (Karnali Province) at about 3,640 metres, faces Purang (Taklakot) and is a traditional gateway for Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrims from the far west. Kimathanka (Sankhuwasabha) and Olangchung Gola/Tipta La (Taplejung) are smaller, largely local trade points that have long been slated for upgrading.

Every open crossing has a customs presence. The Department of Customs operates main customs offices at the big gateways — Birgunj, Bhairahawa, Biratnagar (Jogbani), Kakarbhitta (Mechi), Nepalgunj, Krishnanagar, Tatopani and Rasuwa among them — supported by numerous sub-customs and revenue points along both frontiers. Customs offices assess and collect customs duty, VAT and excise, and they are among the government's largest sources of revenue, so trade-heavy points like Birgunj dominate national collection figures.

To speed up cargo, Nepal has developed inland container depots (dry ports), the most important being Sirsiya in Birgunj, which links by rail to Indian seaports. Biratnagar-Jogbani in the east and Bhairahawa in the west also handle large volumes and have integrated check-post facilities on the Indian side that combine immigration, customs and cargo screening under one roof. These integrated check posts have made the main Terai crossings faster and more formalised over the past decade.

Because Nepal imports far more than it exports, most customs activity is inbound: fuel, vehicles, machinery, food and consumer goods entering from India, plus electric vehicles, apples and industrial goods arriving from China through Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani. This trade dependence is why any prolonged closure of a major crossing quickly becomes national news and a live search query.

Operational status has two layers that are easy to confuse. A crossing can be 'open' for local Indian-Nepali foot and vehicle traffic while still being restricted for third-country foreigners or for commercial cargo, and vice versa. The six India land points are permanent, all-weather crossings that rarely close outright; when people search 'is Birgunj border open,' the real question is usually whether a strike, blockade or festival has halted vehicle movement on a given day.

The China crossings are genuinely intermittent. Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani open and shut with monsoon landslides, road repairs and Chinese customs schedules, and Korala and Hilsa are seasonal by nature, effectively closing in winter. A helpful rule of thumb: the Terai crossings are about daily disruptions, while the Himalayan crossings are about seasons and infrastructure. For a definitive, up-to-date answer, check the Department of Immigration and Department of Customs, the relevant local immigration office website, or recent reporting from Nepali outlets before you travel.

In BS terms, the key milestones are: the open-border treaty of 2007 BS (1950 AD); the Tatopani closure after the 2072 BS (2015 AD) earthquake and its reopening around 2080 BS (2023 AD); and Rasuwagadhi's upgrade to an international crossing in 2074 BS (2017 AD). Dates and statuses can change, so treat any specific opening as verify-before-you-go.