How to invest in Nepal from abroad: a guide for Nepalis overseas and NRNs

The rules for investing in Nepal from abroad depend less on the country you live in than on the passport you hold and the papers you went with. A Nepali in Doha with a labour permit (श्रम स्वीकृति), a Nepali student in Sydney, a US citizen whose parents were born in Pokhara and a Danish investor with no Nepali family each follow a different route. The same bank account, IPO or plot of land can be open to one of them and closed to another.

Most of this page is for the first three. If you are a foreigner with no Nepali origin, your route is foreign direct investment, covered in starting a business in Nepal as a foreigner. If you are back in Nepal and want to start something of your own, see how to start a business in Nepal.

Every route starts with the money arriving in Nepal, and how it arrives matters more than most people think. Money sent through a bank or a remittance company licensed by Nepal Rastra Bank lands in an account in your name or your family's, with a record of who sent it and from which country. Nepalis abroad sent Rs 2,120.8 billion home this way in the first eleven months of 2082/83, 38.2% more than a year before, by NRB's own count.

Hundi (हुण्डी) is the other way: you hand cash to an agent abroad, and a partner in Nepal pays your family the rupees, settled outside any bank. Under the Foreign Exchange (Regulation) Act, only someone licensed by NRB may deal in foreign exchange (s.3). Breaking that rule means the foreign exchange can be forfeited, with a fine of up to 3 times the amount on top (s.17). Police broke up hundi rings in Kathmandu in 2023 and again in April 2026, as the crypto guide sets out.

Even leaving the law aside, hundi costs you later. Money with no record does not count for the things the drawing shows. The IPO quota needs Rs 50,000 sent from your country of work in the last 6 months. The savings bond asks for proof that the foreign currency came into Nepal. Remittance deposits pay 1 point more only on remitted money, and SSF gives a discount for showing that 70% of your income came home through banks. An NRN who later wants money back abroad needs to show how it came in.

• Send in your own name to an account in your own name, or to a family member's, so the record shows it is your earnings.
• Compare the rate on the day. NRB publishes the reference rate every morning; the exchange rate page shows riyal, dirham, ringgit, won, yen, dollar and pound against the rupee.
• Keep the receipts, or the app's history, for at least the six months the IPO quota looks back over.
• Never hand over cash or an account to an agent who offers a better rate than the banks. That better rate is the price of the risk your family carries.

There are three kinds of account to know, and most people abroad need only the first. A remittance savings account (रेमिट्यान्स बचत खाता) is an ordinary rupee account, under a bank's own scheme name, that receives money sent from abroad. It is the one the IPO quota needs, and many banks open it online from abroad with your citizenship, passport, visa and labour permit. A remittance fixed deposit pays about 1 point above the bank's normal rate, as five banks' notices say; the top remittance FD rates in Kartik 2083 were about 5.15–5.50% for long terms (fixed deposit in Nepal).

A foreign-currency account (विदेशी मुद्रा खाता) keeps dollars, riyals or other currencies as they are. NRB's rules (circular 17/2082) let anyone with a source of foreign currency open one: current, savings, call or fixed, in any currency NRB quotes a buying and selling rate for, except Indian rupees. Workers back from abroad may deposit the foreign currency they bring. With your written authority, your husband or wife, father, mother, son or daughter may operate it.

An NRN account is a foreign-currency savings or fixed deposit for a non-resident Nepali, allowed since NRB's decision of 2078/11/18. Its point is that the money can go back out: principal and interest are paid in the same currency, to an account in your name in the country the money came from.

To hold shares or apply for an IPO you need a demat account, MeroShare and a CRN (C-ASBA Registration Number) for the bank account the money will come from. Many depository participants open demat accounts online with video KYC: you upload your documents and confirm on a short video call that it is you, so a person in Doha or Seoul does not need to fly home for it. The demat costs Rs 100 a year and MeroShare Rs 50.

The new obstacle is the national ID. Since 2083/03/08 (about 22 June 2026), CDSC requires the NID card or NID number for every new demat account and every KYC update. Enrolling for an NID ends with your fingerprints and photo taken at an office in Nepal, and the NID guide on this site says Nepalis abroad cannot enrol yet. We found no way to enrol at an embassy. So a worker abroad with no NID number cannot open a new demat account until a visit home, as we read CDSC's notice.

1. 1Before you leave: get your NID number, open the demat and MeroShare, and set the MeroShare PIN. An existing demat account is not closed for lacking an NID; it is asked for at the next KYC update.
2. 2Keep the phone number and email on your bank, DP and MeroShare accounts ones you can reach from abroad: logins and PIN resets use them.
3. 3Link the right bank account. For the migrant quota, MeroShare needs your remittance account and a CRN issued for that account. The CRN of an ordinary account does not count.
4. 4Add a nominee to the demat and the bank account, so your family is not stuck if something happens to you abroad.
5. 5For paperwork that needs you in person, such as land or a court matter, a power of attorney from abroad is certified at a Nepali embassy. A foreign citizen cannot use that route.

Share of the IPO

10%

Sent in 6 months

Rs 50,000

Open first

4 days

At most

15 days

Every company approved for an IPO from 2079/07/17 (3 November 2022) must set aside 10% of the shares it issues for Nepalis working abroad with labour approval from the Government of Nepal. It is rule 9(6क) of SEBON's Securities Registration and Issue Regulations 2073, and SEBON's own FAQ sets the conditions. People call it the remittance IPO, or the foreign employment quota (वैदेशिक रोजगार कोटा). It is a separate lottery from the general public's, with its own odds.

• A labour permit. Without one you cannot use the quota, SEBON's FAQ says, however long you have worked abroad. Everyone leaving on a work visa for any country but India needs a permit, so workers in the Gulf, Malaysia, Japan and Korea (through EPS) all qualify; permanent residents, students and NRNs with a foreign passport do not.
• A remittance savings account in your own name at a C-ASBA bank. An existing remittance account can be switched to the scheme once the bank has seen your labour-permit papers.
• A demat account through any DP, opened online from abroad if need be. An old one is fine.
• A CRN for the remittance account, which the bank issues once you give it your labour-permit details.
• At least Rs 50,000 deposited from your country of work in the last 6 months. Money put in from inside Nepal does not count. You may top it up from abroad until the issue closes.

1. 1Watch for the quota's notice. It opens before the general public's issue.
2. 2In MeroShare, open My ASBA, then Applicable Issue, and choose the issue reserved for foreign employment.
3. 3Choose the remittance account and type its own CRN.
4. 4Enter the units, at least 10 (Rs 1,000 at Rs 100 a share), tick the declaration and confirm with your PIN.
5. 5Or apply at a branch of a C-ASBA bank, which will ask for the labour permit, passport and visa.

A Nepali citizen abroad can buy and sell listed shares like anyone in Nepal: a broker account gives you TMS (Trade Management System), a website you log in to, and the shares land in your demat. We found no rule against trading from abroad, and none that guarantees a broker will let you log in from a foreign network, so ask your broker before you rely on it. The costs are the same as at home: buying 100 shares at Rs 500 costs Rs 212.50 in commission, SEBON fee and DP fee on top of the Rs 50,000, worked with the share calculator's own code.

The harder part is time, as ShareSansar's reality check for Nepali workers (13 October 2026) puts it. NEPSE trades Monday to Friday from 11:00 to 15:00 Nepal time: 8:15 to 12:15 in Doha, 13:15 to 17:15 in Kuala Lumpur and 14:15 to 18:15 in Seoul, the middle of most people's working day. Someone who cannot read a company's reports ends up buying on tips from a Facebook or Telegram group, and a share being pushed hard there is usually already expensive. The article's suggested order is to clear expensive debt, keep an emergency fund, invest monthly, and only then pick shares.

A SIP (systematic investment plan) in a mutual fund fits that order, because it needs no watching: a fixed sum goes in each month and a fund manager chooses the shares. Some banks now link a SIP to a remittance account or offer one in their app for people abroad. How SIPs work, what real ones earned and their risks are in SIP in Nepal and mutual funds in Nepal.

Last bond's rate

7.5%

Term

5 years

From

Rs 10,000

SSF a month

Rs 2,595

The foreign employment savings bond (वैदेशिक रोजगार बचतपत्र) is a government loan sold only to people like you, at a higher rate than the citizen bond. It is now issued by the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) of the Ministry of Finance, which took over from NRB. The last one, the Baideshik Rojgar Bachatpatra-2087, went on sale on 2082/07/25: Rs 50 crore at 7.5% a year for 5 years, interest every six months, from Rs 10,000 and then in steps of Rs 10,000. The citizen bond sold beside it paid 6.5%.

PDMO's notice says who may buy: a Nepali citizen working abroad, or back from foreign employment for less than 6 months, or an NRN, in their own name or that of a father, mother, husband, wife, son or daughter. You apply online through PDMO's Investor Portal (investor.doms.gov.np) and upload the visa of the country you work in, proof that foreign currency equal to the amount came into Nepal, and an authority for your bank to take the money. The bond can be pledged for a loan and sold to someone else through the same system, and it is repaid on 2087/08/28.

It sells badly. In the week after it opened, PDMO counted Rs 141 crore of applications for the Rs 250 crore citizen bond and only Rs 3.26 crore for the Rs 50 crore foreign employment bond. Over 27 issues from 2066/67 to 2081/82, Kantipur counted Rs 86.81 crore sold of Rs 1,706.55 crore offered: 5.09%. An NRB survey found 87.5% of workers had never heard of it.

• None has been sold in 2083/84 so far: PDMO listed no new savings bond up to 1 November 2026, so the next rate is not known. Recent issues opened between Kartik and Falgun, so watch pdmo.gov.np then.
• The interest is taxed like a bank's, 6% withheld. Rs 10,000 at 7.5% pays Rs 705 a year after tax.
• A remittance deposit at a bank is the everyday alternative: about 1 point above the bank's rate on remitted money, and covered by the deposit guarantee of up to Rs 5,00,000 per person per bank.

A non-resident Nepali (गैरआवासीय नेपाली), by the NRN Act 2064, is one of three people: a holder of NRN citizenship; a foreign citizen of Nepali origin; or a Nepali citizen who has lived and worked at least 2 years in a country outside SAARC, not as a student or diplomat. So a Nepali who has worked in the Gulf or Malaysia for two years is an NRN too, while still a citizen.

The NRN card (गैरआवासीय नेपाली परिचयपत्र) is the proof. It lasts 10 years for a foreign citizen of Nepali origin and 2 years for a Nepali citizen abroad. The embassy in Washington charges USD 520 and USD 70 and takes 10 to 15 working days; for the foreign-citizen card it wants the certificate that you gave up Nepali citizenship. It is one of the documents banks accept for an NRN account, and the NRN Act ties land, visas and investment to it.

NRN citizenship (गैरआवासीय नेपाली नागरिकता) is different. Section 7(क) of the Citizenship Act, added by the amendment the President authenticated in May 2023, lets someone who took a foreign citizenship, lives outside SAARC, and was, or whose parent or grandparent was, a Nepali citizen by descent or birth, take NRN citizenship with "economic, social and cultural rights". The Regulations came into force on 21 September 2023; holders have no political rights. The embassies take applications, but the certificate is issued by the District Administration Office. Which laws give which economic right is not yet spelled out, so ask before you rely on it for land or shares.

• FITTA treats the card holder as a foreign investor. The Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act 2075 (authenticated 27 March 2019) defines an NRN as a holder of the NRN card and lists NRNs among foreign investors. That route means approval from the Department of Industry, which FITTA s.17 has made the approver of foreign investment since July 2024, the money brought in as foreign currency through a bank, and in return a right to repatriation of the investment and profit (s.20). The general minimum is Rs 2 crore per foreign investor, by a Nepal Gazette notice of November 2022; the process is in the guide for foreigners.
• Rupees for IPOs of NRN companies. NRB amended its foreign investment bylaw in June 2025 so that NRNs may open rupee accounts and apply from them for IPOs of investment companies set up for NRNs, with refunds sent back to the foreign account.
• Shares in foreign currency, from October 2026. The Securities Registration and Issue (Eighth Amendment) Regulations 2083, reported in force on 6 October 2026, let eligible companies sell 10% to 85% of their capital to NRNs in foreign currency, at no premium, traded in lots of 1,000 shares. The first planned is the NRN Nepal Development Fund: 5% government, 10% promoters, 85% by IPO to NRNs, from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 crore each, its chief executive said. We found no opening date by 5 November 2026, and the system for taking returns abroad in foreign currency was still being built by NRB, SEBON, NEPSE and CDSC.
• Not yet the open market. A foreign-citizen NRN still cannot simply buy and sell listed shares on NEPSE like a citizen. The 2083/84 budget promised it and SEBON met NRN representatives on 29 July 2026, a first step.

A Nepali citizen abroad may buy, sell or inherit land like any citizen, usually through a relative holding an अधिकृत वारेसनामा certified at a Nepali embassy. The fees at the Land Revenue Office are in land registration fee in Nepal.

A foreign citizen of Nepali origin may, under section 10 of the NRN Act and rule 11 of the NRN Rules 2066, buy land to live in for themselves or their family, up to a set area and with the permission of the Secretary named in the Rules. The certificate is a blue one, not the usual. Land you received while still a Nepali citizen is outside these limits, and land can pass to an heir who is a foreign citizen of Nepali origin holding the card.

Money flows into Nepal easily and out with difficulty, and the difference is who you are. The rule of thumb: money that came in as a citizen's rupees stays in Nepal; money that came in as foreign investment, through the right door, can go back out.

• The papers an NRN investor needs, by rule 10 of the NRN Rules: the investment permission, the company's board decision, a tax clearance certificate, the audited balance sheet, proof of loans repaid, the bank's details and an affidavit that nothing is owed in Nepal. The tax clearance is explained in tax clearance certificate in Nepal.
• Money that came by hundi cannot be shown to have come in, so it cannot be shown to be yours to take out. A law firm's NRN guide puts it plainly: money wired informally in year one is often "impossible to send back in year three".
• Coming home with dollars: NRB lets a Nepali hold up to USD 1,500 of foreign cash; anything more must be exchanged or put in a foreign-currency account within 35 days.

Nepal charges no tax on remittance as it arrives in an account; we found no such tax in the laws we read, and the NRN Act expressly frees up to Rs 1.5 crore a year that an NRN sends to close relatives for their own use (s.12). Wages earned abroad are a different question: a person in Nepal for fewer than 183 days in a 365-day period is generally not a Nepali tax resident, and a non-resident is taxed in Nepal only on income from Nepal, as practitioners read the Income Tax Act. Whether the country you work in taxes your wages is its own rule.

What your money earns once it is invested in Nepal is taxed like anyone's, withheld at source: 6% of bank and bond interest, 5% of a dividend, and on shares sold at a profit 3.75% if held more than a year or 5% if less (capital gains tax on shares). Those are the rates for resident individuals; a bank may withhold differently for a non-resident, so ask yours. The dividend calculator works out a dividend after its tax.

A double tax treaty (दोहोरो कर मुक्ति सम्झौता) stops the same income being taxed in full twice. Nepal has 10 in force, with India, Norway, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Austria, China, Qatar, Bangladesh, South Korea and Pakistan. The treaty with Mauritius ended from 17 July 2026. Of the countries most Nepalis work in, Qatar and South Korea have one; the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Japan, the US, the UK and Australia did not, in the sources we read.

Take a worker in Qatar who can send Rs 20,000 a month, about QAR 482 at NRB's rate on 4 November 2026, for a 5-year stay. Over the five years that is Rs 12.00 lakh put in. Here it is in three places, as an illustration, not advice.

In a bank deposit at 4%, the average top FD rate across 20 banks in Kartik 2083, it grows to about Rs 13.22 lakh after the 6% tax. As remitted money, at 1 point more, about Rs 13.55 lakh. In a SIP, if the fund earned an illustrative 8% a year, about Rs 14.79 lakh, and at 10%, about Rs 15.62 lakh, before any tax on selling. Real SIPs over five years have earned anything from a loss to about 9% a year (SIP in Nepal), and that range is the price of the higher figures.

Two more numbers matter on the way home. At 5.5% inflation, the remittance deposit's Rs 13.55 lakh will buy what about Rs 10.37 lakh buys today. And put in an FD that pays interest every month at 4%, it would pay about Rs 4,200 a month after tax, without touching the sum.

People far from home with steady savings and little time are what fraudsters look for. Most scams aimed at them fall into a few kinds, and each has a tell.

• Fake trading and IPO apps. In August 2025 Nepal Police warned of a "NEPSE AI" app advertised on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok as a stock-analysis tool. Once installed it gave the fraudsters control of the phone; one victim lost Rs 28,61,000 from several bank accounts in minutes. Use MeroShare only from CDSC's own site or official app; CDSC warned of a fake one as early as 2018.
• "Guaranteed return" groups. A WhatsApp, Telegram or Facebook group that promises a fixed monthly return, or a share "sure to double", is selling you something. Nothing legal in Nepal guarantees more than a government bond.
• Agents who "fix" an IPO allotment. The quota is a lottery run in the open; nobody can buy you a better chance. Paying someone to apply for you also hands them your MeroShare login and PIN.
• Cooperatives promising high rates. A savings and credit cooperative is not a bank and its deposits have no guarantee. About Rs 46 billion was owed to some 76,000 cooperative depositors in May 2026.
• Hundi and crypto. A better rate than the bank, or an offer to move money through USDT, is illegal and leaves no record. Crypto is banned in Nepal, and NRB says the ban reaches Nepalis abroad: is crypto legal in Nepal.
• Someone "from the embassy" or "from SSF" asking for money on the phone. Embassies' fees are on their own websites; SSF's number for workers abroad is in the SSF guide.

1. 1Before you leave: NID number, demat and MeroShare with a PIN, a bank account with mobile banking, nominees, and a power of attorney if land or a court case is involved. The term life insurance bought with the permit pays Rs 14 lakh on death abroad; what it covers is in life insurance in Nepal. The labour-permit steps themselves are in the foreign employment process and the labour permit guide, and what the permit should cost in the labour permit cost calculator.
2. 2While abroad: send only through a bank or licensed remitter, keep a remittance account with its own CRN, apply in the quota (not both), keep SSF paid, and look at a monthly SIP or a remittance deposit once there is an emergency fund at home.
3. 3On return: the savings bond is open to you for 6 months if one is on sale, bring or exchange foreign cash within NRB's limits, update your KYC (address and phone) at the bank and DP, and claim SSF's lump sum or pension.