Embassy of Nepal — Local services in Washington

Did my passport renewal here . You could renew passport in DC/NYC consulate. The appointment took 15 minutes and 1.5 months to get the passport delivered to my home. I came from different state. Don’t wait until last moment to renew your passport ( you can’t travel if you have less than 6 months left on your passport). The embassy takes your old passport and send it to Nepal. The passport is then printed in Nepal and send back to DC or NYC and from there it is send back to wherever you are located in the US. There is no expedite service . Don’t bother calling Department of Passport in Nepal or here (nobody picks the phone, so don’t waste your energy) . The physical appointment is necessary because they take biometrics .

Booking an appointment: Tough part. The department of Passport website ( https://nepalpassport.gov.np ) is clunky. Only works in Nepal time zone (Nepalese Server/electricity??) . It took me 2 days to just open the website . It works during Nepal working hours ( no timeouts) . However It was difficult to find the date . As suggested by someone changing the computer time zone to Kathmandu makes slots visible. It is mandatory to book an appointment . They take that barcode.

As per the address in the form you have to enter Nepal address (why ?? Please be practical) Make sure to add email address in the form.

Booking flights/hotels I got the impression from “friends” in embassy that having an embassy in the US is a privilege. However i would hope we don’t have to travel west coast to east coast spending 2000$ for a family trip . We made it a family vacation and spend 3 days in Washington DC ( visited museums, White House, Washington monument, capital and family in Virginia ). Some people had return flight the same day . Yes you can do that too. Please book morning appointment and come to the embassy early morning if you plan todo so.

What to bring Obviously the receipt of your appointment ( PRINTED COPY) , Nagarita ( PRINTED COPY) / original not needed, Old passport ( they take it so make sure you won’t be needing them for next 1.5 months) . You also need a return envelope so that they can send new passport back to the place you came from . You can walk to USPS (15 mins) from embassy and get the return envelope Or bring it with yourself on the plane whichever works.

Do you need a rental car? Depends . We made that a family trip so we rented a car. Public transportation is good in DC . If you are just for a day, you can skip .

Where to park if you have a car? I booked a 11 AM slot . Came at 8:30 . Got parking right at the gate ( you can park for 2 hours there) . It was free ( elevated my mood :-) ) . You don’t have to come that early .

How to know the status Don’t bother :-) . There is an app that you can download called “Nepal ePassport” in both android and iPhone which gives you the “status”. For me it was always “your passport is being printed”. The status is not meaningful at all. The status changes to “your passport is ready” . I didn’t understand where it was ready ( perhaps done printing in Nepal) . Don’t waste your energy in calling, they will ask you to use the app.

CONCLUSION: I know we come here with many biases and unhappy experience from the past with Nepalese government services. But I was genuinely impressed with friendly staff and On time service.

FEEDBACK: Please fix the website ASAP ( booking issues, time zone issues, form needing Nepal address issue for contact( could add section to include international address for contact) Please add meaningful status to the app Please make the passport services available in major states. Please have someone answer the phone ( it doesnot cost much*) Please provide expedite service ( I missed the international conference, I should have known earlier) . Considering the amount we pay and time it takes to print passport in Nepal (1-2 days from what I have learnt), you could cut time in more than half .

I gave 5 stars despite everything because the process took merely 10-15 minutes and it...

I cannot express enough gratitude to the work that our embassy staff do serving all Nepalese people of 50 states with handful of members that they have in their team.

I was there on August 8th 2022 . Anyone who was there know how busy it was on that particular day . Sudden influx of applicants threw them off initially but the patience shown to deal with our stubborn applicants was incredible.

It’s amazing that We are same group of People who don’t utter a word when we go to any American government office . We follow rules , have all the form filled up have it handy, all print outs ready. When was the last time you had your form filled up, letter printed or rules bent even slightly in an American government office?

And suddenly when it comes to our own embassy we are entitled to everything first. They way some of us were giving out to those handful of workers there was truly shameful .

One embassy member ( in small room surrounded by about 8-10 ) people was helping couple of fellow citizens to fill up the forms for passport renewal just because a handful of people thought it was his job . Another couple of them came with the appointment for two days later and demanded to have their work done because they were there for some NRN program and wanted to kill two birds with one stone. One bhai pretended that he was helping some older couple and skipped the line right in front of me . One lady tossed her phone to the embassy staff to find out the form that she filled . Her comment “ Kaha gayo Kaha , aafai khojnus la , euta printer ta rakh dina parcha ni etroo embassy ma “

Apparently there was glitch In some timing system when they were giving out the appointment which they admitted . They just wanted us to be patient until they figured out a way to help us.

One embassy member on Black shirt came out, promised that whatever it is they will have everything done before the end of the day .

Suddenly then, people started complaining that theirs were to be done quicker. Fine ,with frustration he was little bit loud ( I would have been much louder ) but the remarks he got for it wasn’t fair.

I came from comparatively closer distance so I let some of the other fellow Nepalese who had apparent flight on that particular day slide ahead of me. I saw their work done and not even a single “thank you” to people who helped them. “ dhila garyo tara bhayo “ was the comment and they left with smile on their faces.

The embassy staff didn’t even have lunch until about 2 pm especially after announcing at about 11 am that the office will close for lunch at 1.

I am not saying all of the applicants there were such but those who were not; were so ashamed that they just sat nodding their head on their respective chairs. I guess they too were ashamed of our fellow brothers and sisters. For me it was nostalgia trip to Nepal for about 5 hours I was there.

Hopefully it was just another unexpected stressful day for them but I truly am amazed by the service they provide with limited source , limited equipment , limited staff and with utmost pride.

I know they might have their flaws but bashing them on Google doesn’t help. It only makes our country look bad. We are getting global with inter-country marriages happening more often, More people traveling to Nepal or wanting to travel, more people enquiring about our country.

What example are we setting to those who read these comments?

For me : Hats off to each and everyone working In the embassy. You are very least appreciated. You all deserve quite a lot.

The least we can do it “ thank “ them for amazing job they do.

I read the reviews above and most of us are here to empty our frustration. Whoever is helped forget about saying “thanks “ because their job is done.

Serving more than 200000 Nepalese with about 10 members ( guessed :number of embassy staff seen that day ) is truly amazing day in day out.

we pride ourselves to be Nepalese let’s say “thank you “ to them here if they have ever helped you .

Cheer their days up.

Least we can...

I will say in terms of the actual process during passport renewal and biometrics appointment, they did a good job. I was out in 30mins. Make sure women tie their hair and wear no makeup or jewellery for the photo taken at embassy during the appointment.

Futher, I saw a lot of people walking in for their appointments without a printed application with bar code and photocopies of passport and citizenship certificate (nagarikta) and had the audacity to shout at the embassy people. I feel bad for the embassy employees. Yes, they are here to serve the citizens but respect is a two-way street. Every detail is available on the website. Please do your homework. Your poor planning shouldn’t be reflected on them. Don’t forget to save and print application page with bar code right after you complete application online. You can’t retrieve it later.

Also if it is the passport renewal and you don’t have your original citizenship certificate (nagarikta) with you, a photocopy will work. But you need to bring your actual expired/expiring passport and a photocopy of it. In addition, if you make a mistake in application and booked appointment, you have to submit a new application and book another appointment. And the previously booked appointment will get automatically cancelled on no show as we make the payment on the day of appointment. They accept money orders, debit and credit cards for mode of payment on the day of appointment.

Now the cons, the phone conversation is almost non-existent. So don’t waste time calling. The email though was pretty quick, they responded within a couple of days. Email them at consular@nepalembassyusa.org with proper subject line and details of your query.

Another issue is to be unable to track the application online.

Finally, employees lost their cool at applicants so quickly that they started picking up on other applicants who had even a small question, which was not right. At such place with high-pressure job and dealing with same-thing everyday, you need to stay calm and not loose temper. That is not a professional attitude and needs training. Some of your citizens might not be fluent in English reading and writing and may have issue interpreting the directions, please be kind to them. Because at the end of the day, an embassy has been set up to help and support your citizens. That is your sole motto. Represent Nepal and...