Recently, the repatriation flights which were set to be operated till the end of August were all suspended by the Ministry as per the recommendation of Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC). The management centre has recommended different ministries and government to suspend all the travel related activities for now as the cases of Covid-19 has been increasing day by day in Nepal.
As the situation is getting out of hands, government is forced to shut down different services inside the nation and it seems the Immigration department of Nepal is also forced to close all of its services. Along with it, on August 17, the department of immigration issued a notice regarding the decision to close all types of visa related services in Nepal. Any types of services that includes virtual, electronic, online are all suspended by the immigration department of Nepal as per the decision made by the Government.
The notice issued by the Department of Immigration also noted down a few key points. As per the notice, foreign nationals with a valid visa till March 21 will not have to pay any charges like penalty and late fee if they are set to return back within the next 15 days of the resumption of international flights. As mentioned in the notice, the immigration office will remained close for all services except for the emergency visa services.
Previously, any foreign nationals traveling to Nepal has to apply for visa before they land on Kathmandu. They were supposed to sort out their visa related documents through the respective Nepali Embassy around the globe due to the covid-19 pandemic. Before that, Nepal used to provide visa on arrival for most of the countries. However, the covid-19 pandemic created a pause to it and forced to suspend the visa on arrival. Now since the condition is getting a little out of hand in Nepal, the air travel is completely suspended and the visa related services are closed likewise.
The notice issued by the department of immigration regarding the closing of all visa related services does not mention about the its resumption. They have not mentioned about the time period till the visa services resume. Well, as per the current situation, the decision seems to last for at least a week. There is a very slight chance that the visa services and the resumption of airlines will resume within this week. The capital, Kathmandu is set to go under a strict shutdown from August 19, midnight. According to the decision made by the state government, only essential services will be permitted to open for a week.
You can find the notice issued by the Department of Immigration regarding the visa information on their official website.
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