Directory of Nepal's Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Embassies, Consulates-General and Permanent Missions

Nepal projects its interests internationally through a network of resident diplomatic missions managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in Kathmandu. These missions fall into three categories: embassies (bilateral missions to a host state, headed by an Ambassador), consulates-general (subordinate offices focused on consular and community services in a major city, headed by a Consul General), and permanent missions (which represent Nepal to multilateral bodies such as the United Nations rather than to a single country).

Source counts vary slightly by date and by what is included. Wikipedia's compilation lists approximately 32 embassies, 9 consulates-general and 2 permanent missions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has at various times described the network as having around 40 to 44 missions, counting roughly 30-31 embassies, 7-10 consulates-general and 2-3 permanent missions. The differences chiefly reflect ongoing expansion of Nepal's presence to serve its large overseas labour diaspora and to deepen economic diplomacy.

Because each mission can be reassigned, upgraded, opened or closed over time, the authoritative, current list is the one published by MOFA on its official website under 'Diplomatic Missions.' A per-mission directory should treat the MOFA list and each mission's own website as the primary references.

Embassies are Nepal's flagship missions and are concentrated in Asia — reflecting Nepal's strategic location between India and China and the large number of Nepalis working in the Gulf and East/Southeast Asia. The following resident embassies are documented; cities are the seats of each mission.

Consulates-general extend consular reach into major cities with large Nepali populations or heavy travel/labour traffic, particularly in China, India, the Gulf and the United States. They handle passports, attestations and community welfare but do not conduct full bilateral diplomacy. Permanent missions, by contrast, represent Nepal to international organizations.

Nepal joined the United Nations on 14 December 1955 (General Assembly resolution 995(X)) and maintains permanent missions to the UN and other international organizations in New York, Geneva and Vienna. New York is the seat of Nepal's representation to the UN General Assembly and Security Council, Geneva covers the UN's human-rights, trade and humanitarian bodies, and Vienna covers Vienna-based organizations.

A core function of embassies and consulates is delivering consular services to Nepali nationals and to foreigners dealing with Nepal. Document attestation is typically linked to MOFA's Department of Consular Services in Kathmandu, which authenticates Nepali documents before missions abroad attest copies, and authenticates foreign documents for use in Nepal.

Many missions note practical limits: for example, embassies generally cannot issue NRN (Non-Resident Nepali) citizenship because that authority rests with the Government of Nepal in Kathmandu, and personal appearance is not always required for routine attestation. Service hours, fees and exact requirements differ by mission, so applicants are advised to confirm with the specific mission before visiting.

Nepal cannot afford a resident mission in every country, so it uses concurrent (multiple) accreditation: a single embassy is formally accredited to several states. For instance, the embassy in Cairo is concurrently accredited to many African countries, and the embassy in Beijing additionally covers neighbours such as Mongolia and North Korea. MOFA publishes a dedicated list of which missions hold which concurrent accreditations.

Consular jurisdiction works similarly within a country: where there is both an embassy and one or more consulates-general (as in China, India and the United States), each office serves a defined geographic catchment so applicants know which mission to approach. The MOFA 'Concurrent Accreditation of Nepali Missions Abroad' page is the reference for confirming which countries fall under a given mission.

Beyond career missions, Nepal appoints honorary consuls — typically local residents or business figures of the host country — to promote trade, culture and limited consular support in cities without a resident mission. Honorary consulates (for example in Melbourne and in some U.S. states) are usually listed separately from the formal embassy/consulate network and have narrower authority than career missions.

Most resident missions maintain official websites under standard Government of Nepal domains, which makes a directory easy to verify: embassies generally use a country-code subdomain of nepalembassy.gov.np (for example, us.nepalembassy.gov.np for Washington, D.C.), while consulates-general use a city-code subdomain of nepalconsulate.gov.np (for example, nyc.nepalconsulate.gov.np for New York). For any official, up-to-date contact details, addresses or head-of-mission names, the MOFA website and the individual mission's own site are the definitive sources.