Business Visa in Nepal: Eligibility, Documents, Fees & Procedure

Business Visa in Nepal is a residence visa issued by the Department of Immigration to foreign nationals who are investing, establishing or operating a trade or industrial enterprise in the country and it includes authorized representatives of foreign investors and their dependent family members. It is issued on the recommendation of the Department of Industry under the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act (FITTA). The duration of the is related to the size of the approved investment, and can be from one month up to five years.

A person or company from a foreign country  who desires to invest in Nepal shall apply for a business visa in Nepal. This visa is required for their stay and for carrying out business operations in Nepal. It is to be mentioned that any foreign national who wishes to work in Nepal needs to have a business visa or work permit as per the regulations of Nepal.

The following laws are the primary legislation that govern the business visa in Nepal:
a) Immigration Act, 1992 (2049) (“Immigration Act”),
b) Immigration Rules, 1994 (2051) (“Immigration Rules”) and
c) Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act, 2019 (2075) (“FITTA”).

The Department of Immigration (“Immigration Department”) serves as the authoritative body responsible for the facilitation, regulation, and renewal of business visa in Nepal.

In practice, the issuance of a business visa by the Immigration Department typically involves obtaining a recommendation from relevant government authorities. Recommendation from the Department of Industry is required to receive the business visa in case of foreign investment companies in Nepal.

The legal team at Bhandari Law can support you for obteiaing business visa in Nepal.

As per the Rule Number. 9 of Immigration Rules, the eligibility criteria forobtaining a Business Visa in Nepal are as follows:
i) Foreigners who have obtained a license to make investment in any trade or industrial enterprise in Nepal or an authorized representative of such trade or enterprise;
ii) Foreigners who have obtained a license to make investment in order to carry on export trade from Nepal;
iii) Foreigners who visit Nepal from third countries and who purchase and export goods manufactured in Nepal or make a purchase order for exports.

As per Section 30 (2) of FITTA, the business visa is granted to individual foreign investors or their authorized representatives of corporate entity and family members, tied to maintaining the prescribed investment amount in Nepal. A part from individual investors and corporate entity representatives, individuals who are family members of investors or family members of representatives of company are eligible to apply for dependent visas. "Family member" here refers to spouse, parents, and minor children of the investor or representative. Visa recommendations (for representative and family members) will be processed, within a 2-day timeframe, by the Single Point Service Centre, provided that the following requirements are met:

One should follow the following general procedure to obtain a business visa in Nepal:

• Step 1: Obtain Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) approval from the Department of Industry (DOI) by the investor.
• Step 2: Submission of application before DOI to receive the recommendation letter.
• Step 3: The Department of Industry (DOI) will grant the recommendation letter to provide a business visa.
• Step 4: Submission of visa application before Immigration Department.
• Step 5: Following the examination, the Immigration Department will issue a business visa.

Generally, it takes approximately 3 to 4 weeks to obtain business visa in Nepal.

The Department of Immigration issues the visa upon receipt of the following necessary documentation from the applicant:

The duration of a business visa spans from a minimum of one month to a maximum of five years. Typically, the Immigration Department grants an initial business visa for a duration of one year, and it is necessary to renew this visa on an annual basis.

Following documents has to be submitted before Immigration Department for the renewal of visa:

Date of Publication: 11 September 2023

Disclaimer: Bhandari Law and Partners is one of the leading law firm in Nepal  with team of best professional lawyers in Nepal.This article published on website of the law firm is just for information purpose only. It shall not be taken as the legal advice, advertisement, personal communication, solicitation or inducement. Bhandari Law and Partners or any of the team members of the firm shall not be liable for the consequence arising of the information provided. As the factual situation may be different on your case, thereof if you need further legal advice on the subject matter, please Contact Us.