It is said that there are more than 250 international non governmental organisations working in Nepal with General and Project Agreements with the Social Welfare Council. Most of them have employed foreigners as their country representatives or experts of the projects. Any national other than Nepali citizen are required to obtain permission from the Government of Nepal in order to work and stay in Nepal. The line agency for all INGOs is the Social Welfare Council, whereas work permits are granted by the Department of Labour and Occupational Safety and the working visa is granted by the Department of Immigration with the recommendation of the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen, the line ministry of the Social Welfare Council and the Ministry of Home Affairs, the ministry regulating the immigration issues in Nepal.
In this context, we are analysing below the process for obtaining work permit and working visa in Nepal. First of all, no foreigner intending to work in any INGOs in Nepal should enter without prior permission from GoN. Entering into Nepal in a tourist visa and then beginning to process for work visa makes the person illegally working in Nepal and may be charged penalty for working in Nepal in a tourist visa and without work permit.
So, first of all the prospective foreign national has to send all the required documents to Nepal for processing visa and work permit from GoN and once the process arrives at the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs issues recommendation to the Department of immigration to allow the person to enter into Nepal in a tourist entry visa. As soon as the person enters into Nepal the visa copy needs to be submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
After Ministry of Home Affairs gives clearance, the line ministry (Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens) of INGOs recommends for work permit to the Department of Labour and Occupational Safety (DoLOS). Then the DoLOS conducts necessary scrutinizing including the personal interview of the expatriate worker. Then the DoLOS issues the work permit for the expatriate.The Work Permit then needs to be submitted to MoWCSC in order to obtain the recommendation for working visa. After receiving the work permit, the MoWCSC issues a letter of recommendation for working visa of the expatriate to the Department of Immigration.
Then along with the recommendation letters from MoHA, MoWCSC and work permit issued by DoLOS, the expatriate person is required to submit application for conversion of tourist entry visa into working visa at the Department of Immigration, Kathmandu.
Finally, the Department of Immigration issues working visa to the expatriate upon receiving the fee of 75USD per month per person for a maximum period of one year at a time. Now a days the working visa is given in a hologram sticker which is verifiable by anybody through the online portal of the Department of Immigration at https://www.immigration.gov.np/
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