Nepal Identity & Travel Document Fees: Side-by-Side Comparison Table

Nepali citizens and visitors interact with a small set of state-issued identity and travel documents, each governed by a different authority and a different fee schedule. This page pulls those scattered schedules into one comparison so you can see, at a glance, what each document costs, who issues it, how long it takes and how long it lasts. The figures below are statutory or officially published fees — they are durable and do not change with the day, unlike foreign-exchange rates or market prices.

Three documents carry no government fee at all in their standard form: the National Identity Card (first issuance), the personal Permanent Account Number (PAN), and a Police Clearance Certificate applied for online. The citizenship certificate is effectively free apart from a nominal revenue stamp. By contrast, the e-passport is the most expensive item, ranging from NPR 5,000 for an ordinary 34-page book to NPR 20,000 for a 66-page fast-track passport. Foreign visitors pay the tourist-visa fee in US dollars, scaled by length of stay.

The table below summarises each document's official fee, issuing authority, typical processing time, validity and whether it is free or paid. Fees are in Nepali Rupees (NPR) unless the fee is officially set in US dollars (USD), as with tourist visas and the overseas NRN card. Always confirm the current rate at the issuing office, as counter charges and embassy-specific fees can be revised by notification.

Nepal's machine-readable e-passport is issued by the Department of Passports under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with applications accepted at the Central Passport Office in Kathmandu, at District Administration Offices across the country, and at Nepali diplomatic missions abroad. The fee depends on two choices: the number of pages (34 or 66) and the service speed (ordinary or fast-track/urgent).

An ordinary 34-page passport costs NPR 5,000 and a 66-page book costs NPR 10,000. Fast-track service, available at the department's urgent counter in Tripureshwor, costs NPR 12,000 for 34 pages and NPR 20,000 for 66 pages, with delivery typically in a few working days rather than the standard several weeks. A regular adult passport is valid for 10 years; passports for children under 10 are valid for 5 years. Official and diplomatic passports are exempt from these fees.

Four of the documents in this table cost little or nothing. The citizenship certificate — the foundational identity document for every Nepali, issued by the District Administration Office under the Ministry of Home Affairs — carries only a nominal revenue stamp (around NPR 10) for first issuance and, once granted, is valid for life. Ward-office recommendation (sifaris) charges set by individual municipalities are separate and vary locally.

The National Identity Card (NID), issued by the Department of National ID and Civil Registration (DoNIDCR), is provided free of charge for first issuance during the national rollout; a replacement card costs NPR 500. The personal Permanent Account Number (PAN), issued by the Inland Revenue Department, is also completely free and never expires. A Police Clearance Certificate applied for through the Nepal Police OPCR online portal or the Nagarik App carries no government fee, while the offline route at a District Police Office costs NPR 500.

The Non-Resident Nepali (NRN) identity card, issued under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, costs NPR 1,500 when applied for inside Nepal and from about USD 20 when applied for abroad, though embassy- and category-specific charges vary considerably from mission to mission. The card is valid for 10 years and gives holders certain travel and economic privileges, including visa-free entry to Nepal for the card's validity.

The tourist visa, issued by the Department of Immigration (including on arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport and land borders), is priced in US dollars by length of stay: USD 30 for 15 days, USD 50 for 30 days and USD 125 for 90 days, all multiple-entry. Extensions are available at immigration offices in Kathmandu and Pokhara at USD 45 for the first 15 days plus USD 3 per additional day, up to a maximum total stay of 150 days in a calendar year. Nationals of SAARC member states receive a gratis (free) 30-day visa for their first visit each year.

Use the 'free or paid' flag to plan budgets: the documents most people need for daily life and employment within Nepal — citizenship certificate, NID and PAN — are essentially free, so the main paid items are the passport (for international travel) and, for visitors, the visa. Processing times listed are typical, not guaranteed; peak seasons, document verification and office workload can lengthen them, which is why fast-track passport and expedited PCC options exist at higher cost.

Because counter fees, embassy charges and service tiers can be revised by government notification, treat every figure here as the published baseline and confirm at the issuing authority before paying. Each document also has its own detailed how-to process — eligibility, required documents and step-by-step application — which sits alongside the fee in this comparison.