Nepal to resume visa services after a month

Nepal’s Department of Immigration has decided to resume all the visa services starting from Sunday after the services were supended over a month ago after one of its staff members tested positive for COVID-19, a senior official said.

“The resumption of visa services will basically benefit the foreigners who have been staying in Nepal even during the current pandemic,” Ram Chandra Tiwari, information officer at the department told Xinhua news agency on Saturday.

“We will also provide a visa on arrival services to the foreigners at the airport.”

According to the Department, over 10,000 foreign passport holders are still staying in Nepal.

The Department said it would regulate the visa of foreigners till 27 September without any fee or penalty considering the impact of pandemic.

“But others can get visa renewal till 15 December by paying regular tourist visa fee,” it added.

The Nepal government has allowed foreign diplomats, representatives of international institutions and donor agencies and foreigners who have received prior approval to come to the country on regular flights.

But restrictions on foreign tourists are still in place.

Nepal has allowed resumption of scheduled international flights, which were suspended on 22 March, to most foreign destinations except a few with a high coronavirus rate.

The Himalayan country has so far reported a total of 53,120, with 336 deaths.