How to Get a Driving License in Nepal?

Let’s start from the start. We all know how a vehicle and a license are necessary for an urban city and even more in rural areas. But in most rural areas, people don’t have enough budget to buy motor vehicles. So I’m gonna be keeping this content relevant to the urban areas.

So back to the topic, you need a vehicle in the urban area and to ride/drive that Vehicle, you need a license. What are the requirements and how to obtain a license? This article is all about that so let’s begin without further delay.

If you have a license, and need to renew it then click here to know the process of license renewal.

Step 1: Know the procedure to get the license.

These are the basics of the basics. Before you apply or even prepare for the Drivers License, you have to know what to do to get the license. In this way you can prepare better. Well it’s either that or you prepare everything related to the vehicle without knowing what to prepare for. In essence, knowing the procedure is like knowing the chapters for the exam. What are the procedures you say? Well I am here to tell you just that

The procedures

Apply the transportation department in the local area to apply
Fill the application forms
Take health tests including color blindness to get verified that you are fit to drive. Note that if you have any mental issues that can affect your driving you will be disqualified.
Give the written test
Give the practical trial ( this has two phases: track test and road test)
Gather your documents and wait for the result.
If you are passed, you will receive a pass saying you have passed as a substitute for the license while you wait for the license
If you failed you have to wait for three months before you can give the exam again but If you have passed in the written exams, you can skip that the next time

Step 2: Know what type of license you need

After knowing the procedure you have to know the category of license. Different categories of licenses have different provisions so be careful and think of what category you choose. Okie so let me list out the categories real quick before I go into the next step. This is a bit long so if you know a bit of this, you can just skip to that part.

Category A

Light Motorcycle (A1): made for motorbikes from the engine power of 75cc to 125cc. So this is basically made for a bike rider who is a beginner. This can be seen as the minimum age restriction is just 17 years old

Heavy Motorcycle (A): A license with a slightly higher privilege than the A1. This is because you can ride a bike up to 240 cc of engine power and can carry a load up to 410 kg on your bike. The load can be another light-weight bike tied to the rear end or some household materials.

Category B

Motor Tricycle (B1): As the name suggests this license allows you to ride a three-wheeler with a max weight of 500 kg.

Personnel and small public Vehicles (B): This is basically the license that you need to drive a car or a tempo. The max weight limit is 3500 kg with 8 seats. The minimum age requirement is 17 years.

Category C

From this category, it is basically either mini Tata or trucks or buses so there is not much to talk about besides the weight load. Due to this, I’m going to keep things short from here because we still have a lot to cover and we are already this long.

Medium goods (C1): maximum load capacity of 7500 kg with a maximum speed of 80 Kmph. The minimum age requirement is 18 years.

Heavy Goods (C): Maximum load capacity starts from 10 tonnes and the length should not exceed 7 meters. The max speed that you can travel is 80kmph. The minimum age requirement is of 21years

Category D

This is for the buses and passenger buses.

Minibus (D1): Well this is basically a bus that has between 8 and 16 buses and the max speed should be 80 Km/hr. One should be at least 21 years of age to get this license.

Passenger bus (D): This is for the bus. The length should be at least 9 meters. The bus should be able to go 80 km/hr for highways and should have at least 16 seats. The minimum age requirement is 21 years of age.

Category E

This can be said to be the highest grade license. This is because one can drive multiple vehicles from all of the above categories. They are

Passenger/small goods Vehicle (B)
Medium goods (C1)
Heavy Goods (C)
Minibus (D1)
Passenger Bus (D)

The requirements have not changed as the Vehicles are the same.

Category F

This is for the farmers and this license allows them to use tractors. The minimum requirement is 16 years

Category H

This allows you to drive tracked vehicles. What this means is

That you can use steel tracks for the wheels for extra grip. The vehicles that come under this are JCB, road rollers, and other construction vehicles.

Category K

This is for the electric vehicles that can do on the road. This is just for loaded vehicles and does not include electric scooters or something similar.

Category P

This is for Moped. A moped is a hybrid between a bicycle and a motorbike. The engine capacity should not exceed 50cc and the maximum speed should not exceed 48 to 50 km/hr.

Step 3: Know the Price

So you know what licence you want to get and what you need. Now you need to prepare some cash. It is not too expensive but you do need a bit. Here are the prices required.

Exam fee– Rs.500
Blood test– Rs.50
Vehicle charge for trial exam– Rs.250 for the bike, Rs.500 for car.
New Licence- Rs.1500
Renewal Cost– Rs.1500
Addition of category- +Rs.500 for every extension.

Prepare a sum of at least Rs.4050 before you fill-up the forms. Although it does take some time before the license comes but better be prepared than suffer.

Step 4 : Prepare for the exam and give the exam

Now the health test includes your mental health test which consists of briefly looking over your medical health. Along with that, your hearing and vision test will be taken as well. The color vision is important so a color blindness test will be taken along with the general vision test.

Since you cannot do anything about your health, all you can do is prepare for the written and practical exams.

In the written exam, the questions will concern the vehicle that you are driving and the basic traffic rules.

Practical exam

Now the practical exam has two parts. One is the track test where you will be tested to see if you can take tight turns and climb uphill without stumbling as well as go through speed breakers. This also tests your timing as well along with the knowledge of traffic signals in a practical exam.

The second part is the road test where an instructor sits behind you while you die on a busy road.

As mentioned before, if you fail the exam for the first time, you can give the exam three months later. If you fail the health test, then it is over for you. Sorry but your health just won’t allow you to drive.

Step 5: Wait for the license

Once you have given the tests and you have passed and paid all the bills, all you have to do is wait for the license. it can take quite a while so don’t feel too tight and let the days roll. But just in case you are anxious, here is the time estimate for the entire process.

Time taken for the whole process

Now you should know how long it takes to get the license.

It takes around a day to fill up the forms and you will be called to take the health on the same day. After that, the written exams will be taken the day after the health test. Along with that, the trial exam is to be given the day after the written exam.

If you fail the exam then you can give the exams again the next three times and there should be at least 10 days.

After you have passed the exams, a substitute for the license will be given for the time while the officials make the license. This will take less than 10 days. The actual license however can take anywhere from a month (which rarely happens) to a year (which is not so rare but still unusual). The average time taken is from 3 to 6 months.

Where can we take the exams?

Each region has its own multiple driving test locations and listing every one of them would impossible. I have however listed some for the Kathmandu valley.

Kathmandu

Pradeep driving and training school- Kapan
Nepal Driving center- Chabahil
Chabahil Trial Center- Chabahil

Lalitpur

U-turn driving school-Sanepa
Welcome Vehicle Pre-Test Center- Ekantakuna
Suzuki Driving School- Ekantakuna

Bhaktapur

Bhaktapur Motor Driving center- Liwali
Suman Motor Driving Center- Sallaghari
Budhathiki Driving School – Near Sangam Colony

Although the application is not available, you can fill the form when the pandemic ends here.