Moving to Nepal

Hi Markus,

Sorry to say there is no 'working visa' for Nepal.
Please check this link for the different visa's you can try to get for Nepal:
http://www.immi.gov.np/visa

Your best chance depends totally on which path you are willing to follow. For some it's setting up a business by themselves, other prefer to get married or take studies. Not all visa's allow for working, Marriage visa's do, Business visa's do, most other visa's don't. And all have their requisites, and none are 'easy' to meet.

a TEFL course you can do, you can even take it in Nepal
( http://www.teflcourse.net/tefl-courses- … kathmandu/ ) but I am not sure if it will really help you. Most Nepali companies do not have permission to hire foreigners. And again this type of permission is not easily gained.


Kind regards,

Jorge.

Hi Jorge,

Thanks for your reply, and for the links. It looks like you need to have a fair bit of money to get a residental or business visa, certainly not easy :-) What sort of businesses do you think would be worth trying? Are computer skills any help?

Cheers

Markus

Hi Markus,

I make my living in Nepal by my computer skills. We mostly build websites and offer related hosting, and sometimes some other computer related support.

I must say though that Nepali customers will mostly be shopping around for the cheapest (not necessarily best) deal, and try to discount the price so much that I don't want to compete with local companies doing the same work for local customers. Therefore for my customer base I mostly rely on foreign, European, customers. Which works for me, and also works for a couple of other companies with foreigner investors at the wheel in Nepal, with which I am in contact.
This is mostly outsourcing business.

There is a relatively strict list though which dictates in which fields foreign investors are allowed to set up their companies, and still keep 100% of the shares. If you want to work outside of this list, then you will need a partnership with a Nepali investor. That could also work, but can introduce trust issues.

Check out this rather extensive document by the Nepali Department of Industry on Foreign Investment in Nepal:
http://www.doind.gov.np/pdf/pmanual.pdf

The amount of money needed to set up a business is not fixed, but there is a minimum of US$ 25,000 involved.
If you invest less, you will not be granted the business visa you need for staying here full time.
For an investment of US$ 25,000 to US$ 100,000 you will be able to take a 1 year business visa which needs to be renewed each year. For investments of US$ 100,000 and over you will be able to apply for a 5 year visa, which needs to be renewed only every five years.

But eventually, to be allowed to set up a business in Nepal, you will have to submit a business plan which calculates for a realistic investment, and they will evaluate your plan for its feasibility. If the amount you plan to invest is in line with your plans, then it will be allowed. If not, then not.

Other foreigners have set up businesses in Nepal, some with more and others with less success. The scope of fields is so wide that I don't care for making a list. In my idea it's very well possible to set up a company and make a living in Nepal for a resilient foreigner. What sort of business totally depends on your interests, and where you see profits for you...

Hope this helps you some!


Kind regards,

Jorge.
PS. If you have more specific questions, then please use Private Messages instead of the public forum.

Hi Jorge

Thanks again for your advice. At the moment $25,000 is a bit beyond me, so I may have to think again. I guessed that I would be unlikely to compete with local businesses (and wouldn't really want to take thier business away anyway), I had vuagely thought about teaching IT skills but I suppose there's plenty of IT teachers there anyway. It does seem to be a bit more complicated than I'd thought. I'll keep an ear open for oppurtunities though.

Many thanks

Markus

Well, one last advise would be to check for Jobs in Nepal on the JobsNepal website at jobsnepal.com/

Like I said before, not many Nepali companies are in a position where they have the permission to hire foreign employees, but you might get lucky and find one...


Wishing you all the best,

Jorge.

I recently returned from Nepal where I did the TEFL course and found there were schools looking for teachers. The wages are Nepali, unless you go through the British Council and do their CELTA course (it is like the TEFL course) and you can get a working visa and jobs paying $1000 per month  - a good wage in Nepal. You can find out about them on britishcouncil.org/nepal

I also found that once you're there then there are ways of obtaining visas beyond the 5 months - not all aboveboard and they require some funding (usually around $1000 or more).

Hi MountainGirl, thanks for your reply. I have considered a TEFL course, I'm also looking into getting a teaching qualification (PGCE) and teaching IT, I don't know if that offers possibilities. What do you think? I have looked at the JobsNepal website, though I don't want to take jobs from the locals if I can help it. I've had a look at the British Council website (thanks for that reference, that's very useful) and it looks like a good way to go. Also, the working visa is clearly expensive, I've seen that on the Nepal visa website. It's certainly not easy to live in Nepal :-). but I'll keep trying.

Many thanks

Mark

Hi.
In answer to your points:
Most of the Nepali teachers are unqualified, and the school teaching system is different from in the west, so I do not know how useful a PCGE would be. A TEFL was more than enough for me to be called an expert and to gain the experience of working in a Nepali school.

I think (but you need to check this) that the British Council pays for the working visa for their employees.

I do not look through job web sites, so I cannot help you there. I got work by going to Kathmandu and asking around.

And once you're there anything is possible if you you are motivated and find the right contacts, the only things to restrict you are your own ethics.

Good luck!