How-To Guides

Step-by-step instructions for the processes that have an order, a document list and a fee. Written to be followed rather than skimmed.

What a guide here contains

• The steps in sequence, including which must happen before which.
• The documents, named, and whether originals or copies are wanted.
• The office, and which tier of government it belongs to.
• The fee, as published, so you can recognise anything extra.
• A realistic timeline, including the slow step - which is almost always document authentication.
• Where it goes wrong, from the experience of people who have done it.

The standing caveat

Procedures change, and these guides are dated. Confirm anything consequential with the authority before acting, particularly where a visa, a deadline or money is involved.

Where a designated provider is required - a tuberculosis test for a Korean visa, for instance - using a different one gets the certificate rejected. Guides say so where we know it, and the authority is definitive.

The deeper reference

For the systems behind the steps, the written sections go further: foreigners in Nepal for visas, permits and residence there, legal and administrative for the Korean equivalents, and Nepal and Korea for anything crossing between them.

For longer explanations rather than procedures, life guides is the companion feed.

Before you start any process

Four habits that apply to almost every procedure in either country, and save more time than any individual guide.

Collect documents first, especially anything needing authentication abroad, because that is the slow step in nearly every process here. Order spare certified copies. You will need the same documents again. Confirm the fee against the published schedule, so you recognise anything extra. Ask who decides, and go to them rather than to an intermediary.

Life guides covers the explanations behind the steps.