Nepal: passenger data record

The Privacy Act 2018

The Privacy Act is Act No. 14 of 2075, authenticated on 18 September 2018. Section 1(2) says it comes into force immediately ¹. Section 2(c)(6) lists thumb impressions, fingerprints, retina of eye, blood group and other biometric information as personal information ¹.

Section 23(1) says no one except an official authorised under law, or a person that official permits, may collect personal information ¹. Section 25 requires bodies holding personal information to protect it against unauthorised access ¹. Section 26(1) bars use or disclosure without consent, with exceptions such as a written demand in a criminal investigation or a court order ¹.

• Penalty: up to three years in prison, a fine of up to Rs 30,000, or both (section 29(2)) ¹.
• For offences under sections 23, 26(1) and 27(1), the Government of Nepal is the plaintiff (section 29(3)) ¹.
• Other complaints go to the District Court within three months (section 30) ¹.
• A court may order compensation (section 31) ¹.
• The Government of Nepal may make Rules to implement the Act (section 36) ¹.

Authority status

The Act creates no data protection authority or commission. Enforcement runs through the courts and government prosecution ¹. Public office holders may face departmental punishment as well (section 32) ¹.

Department of Immigration systems

Suspicious activity in the Department of Immigration's Nepali Port system and CCTV footage was linked to an alleged Rs 23,000 bribe at Tribhuvan International Airport on 21 September, as reported by Narayan Adhikari in Onlinekhabar on 29 September 2026 ³. The report said the CIAA was investigating ³. Director General Ram Chandra Tiwari said the department began investigating after it noticed suspicious activity ³.

The same report describes a Travel Centralisation function used to merge visa records where a person's passport or visa records contain errors ³. The report describes records cited in the charge sheet, including visa history, a revenue payment processed under a staff user ID, and attached documents ³.

Department spokesperson Tikaram Dhakal said the full e-visa system would go live on 17 August 2026, as reported by Basit Jamiu in Legit.ng ². Applicants give personal details, passport data, travel dates and address, a passport copy and a photograph ². Fees for a multiple-entry tourist visa were US$30 for 15 days, US$50 for 30 days and US$125 for 90 days ². The existing ETA system runs alongside it for a transition period, with applications at nepaliport-new.immigration.gov.np ².

We found no official record of an online arrival form separate from the ETA and e-visa, of API or PNR intake, of e-gates, or of a named supplier for these systems ^2,3.

CIAA and court cases

After a police investigation, a case was filed in the Nepali year 2080 against 22 people, including 9 airport immigration officials, over alleged extortion of Nepalis travelling on visit visas, as reported by Matrika Dahal in Ekantipur ⁴. A district court in the Nepali year 2081 convicted only middlemen and travel agency operators, per the same report ⁴.

On 11 December 2025 the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case at the Special Court against six people, including a joint secretary, in the visit visa case, as reported by Matrika Dahal ⁵. We found no response from the accused or the department in that report ⁵.

A Department of Immigration computer operator faces a forgery charge under section 276 of the National Penal Code, 2017 at Kathmandu District Court ³. The charge alleges a residential visa record was moved from one foreign national to another in February 2024 ³. The accused denies knowing how the changes happened and told the court that assistant-level staff lacked access to the visa printer, stickers and the relevant system functions ³. The charges in this case and in the CIAA case are allegations until a court rules ^3,5.

Auditor General

We did not find an Office of the Auditor General finding on Department of Immigration border data systems in the sources we opened ^3,5. We could not open the Office of the Auditor General website to check its reports on other agencies such as the Department of Passports ³.