Before you start

Passport with a valid non-tourist visa
Employment contract and appointment letter
A Permanent Account Number from the Inland Revenue Department
A Kathmandu address and, usually, an employer letter

Step-by-step

1
Get the visa first — a tourist visa does not open a bank account
Nepali banks require a valid non-tourist visa and supporting documentation for a resident account. This is one more reason the labour permit and visa sequence matters: the bank account sits behind it, and so does almost everything else.
In personWho: YouAfter the visa is issued
2
Ask your employer which bank and get a letter
INGOs, UN agencies and the larger Nepali employers have established relationships with particular banks, and an employer letter carries substantial weight in account opening. Nabil, Standard Chartered Nepal, Himalayan Bank and Nepal Investment Mega Bank are the names most often used by the international sector.
Via employerWho: YouWeek 1
3
Open a convertible foreign currency account alongside the rupee one
Banks licensed to deal in convertible foreign currency can open FCY accounts, with very low opening balances. If any of your income arrives from abroad, or if you intend to repatriate savings, this is the appropriate place for it.
In personWho: You
4
Obtain a PAN from the Inland Revenue Department
Anyone commencing employment, business or a profession in Nepal must obtain a Permanent Account Number from the IRD before receiving taxable income. Banks and employers both require it, and it is the precondition for the tax-compliance evidence you will need to repatriate.
OnlineWho: YouMonth 1
5
Keep the contract, appointment letter and tax receipts together
Repatriation of expatriate remuneration rests on a valid employment contract, an appointment letter and evidence that tax has been paid. Treat these three as a single file you maintain throughout your posting rather than documents you hunt for at the end.
In personWho: You
6
Document every inward transfer
As everywhere in the region, the paperwork on money entering is the evidence supporting money leaving. Ask the bank for the advice on every substantial inward remittance and keep it.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport with valid non-tourist visa
Employment contract and appointment letter
PAN certificate from the Inland Revenue Department
Employer letter and proof of Kathmandu address
Tax payment receipts and inward remittance advices, retained

Things most newcomers don’t know

Nepal Rastra Bank removed the ceiling on repatriating expatriate salary, which is a genuine and recent change.

Foreign nationals employed in Nepali firms had historically faced a cap on the proportion of their remuneration they could remit abroad. NRB has since eliminated that ceiling, allowing repatriation of net income after tax, on the basis of a valid employment contract, an appointment letter and evidence of tax compliance. Guidance describing a percentage limit is out of date. Confirm the current position with your bank and with NRB before planning around any specific figure, because this is a live area — but do not assume the old cap still applies.

Source: Nepal Rastra Bank circular, as reported by Nepali counsel

The three documents that make repatriation work are created at the beginning, not at the end.

A valid employment contract, an appointment letter and evidence of tax compliance are what a bank asks for when you want to send money home. People arrive on a verbal arrangement, get paid, pay tax through the employer without keeping receipts, and then discover at the end of a posting that the file supporting repatriation does not exist. It cannot be reconstructed retrospectively. Build it in month one and add to it.

Source: Nepal Rastra Bank framework

A tourist visa will not get you a bank account, which makes the visa sequence load-bearing.

Nepali banks require a valid non-tourist visa for a resident account. That means the account sits behind the labour permit, the line-ministry recommendation and the visa — the same chain that governs everything else. Anyone planning to arrive on a tourist visa and sort out the rest from inside the country should understand that they will have no bank account, and therefore limited ability to receive a salary, until the whole chain completes.

Source: community-reported; Nepal Rastra Bank rules

All foreign exchange must run through an NRB-licensed bank, and the informal alternatives are not a shortcut.

Nepal's Foreign Exchange Regulation Act channels foreign currency transactions through licensed institutions, and transactions must be used for the purpose specified in the relevant approval. Informal money transfer is widespread in the region and is genuinely unlawful here. More practically, money moved informally leaves no documentary trail — and the documentary trail is precisely what you need when you want to move the rest of it out legitimately later.

Source: Nepal Rastra Bank; Foreign Exchange Regulation Act

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming the old percentage cap on salary repatriation still applies — or assuming there are now no conditions at all.
Failing to keep the employment contract, appointment letter and tax receipts as a single maintained file.
Planning to open an account on a tourist visa.
Using informal transfer channels and destroying the documentary trail you will need later.
Leaving the repatriation conversation until the final weeks of a posting.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.