What to Take to the Transport Office: A Checklist for Every Visit

You will visit the transport office (yatayat karyalaya, यातायात कार्यालय) several times before you hold a licence, and each visit wants something slightly different. Turning up without one document costs you the whole trip, and often the appointment slot with it.

Here is what to take, visit by visit. Print it or keep it open on your phone.

Preparing the exams while you sort the paperwork? Yatayat Likhit has the full 500-question DOTM bank offline — free.

The one rule behind all of it

Take the original citizenship certificate every single time. Not a photocopy, not a photo on your phone. Take photocopies as well, because you will often be asked for both, but the original is the one that matters.

Everything else on this page is a variation on that.

Visit 1: biometrics

The first appointment, booked when you filled the online form.

Arrive early. Biometric appointments are commonly Sunday to Wednesday, and missing yours can mean waiting about 15 days to apply again.

Visit 2: medical and eye test

Often folded into the first visit at larger offices.

If you have never had your eyes checked, do it before this visit rather than finding out at the counter. What the medical actually checks.

Visit 3: the written exam (likhit)

Phones are put away before the paper starts, so plan on no last-minute revision. Arrive early: names are called in batches and latecomers get pushed to a later sitting.

Visit 4: the trial

Two practical things that are not documents. Check your vehicle before you leave home — tyres, brakes, fuel, mirrors, chain. And get there early enough to watch a few candidates go through, because you will learn the exact track layout and what the examiner is marking in ten minutes. Every station and what it costs you.

Visit 5: collecting the smart card

Check the print list before you travel. Cards are printed in batches and the lists update every two to four weeks, so a wasted trip is easy to avoid. How to check whether yours is printed.

Check the card before you leave the counter: name spelling, date of birth, blood group, every category you hold, and the expiry date. A mistake caught there is a correction. The same mistake found six months later is a fresh application.

Renewal, duplicate and category add

Different journeys, slightly different paperwork.

The duplicate route starts with the police, not the transport office. Report the loss within about seven days. The full pratilipi process.

Who can apply

• 16 for categories A and K (motorcycle, scooter)
• 18 for Category B (car)
• 21 for heavy and commercial categories, and you need a lighter licence first
• Medically fit — eyesight to standard, with or without glasses
• Not disqualified by a court or authority
• Foreign nationals resident in Nepal on a valid visa can apply, taking passport and visa documents as well

There is no general upper age limit for a private licence. Fitness is decided by the medical, not by your date of birth. Age and eligibility in full.

Getting your details right

The single commonest reason an application stalls is a detail that does not match the citizenship certificate — a name spelled differently, a wrong digit in the date of birth. Those details get printed on the card, and correcting them later is a new application rather than an edit.

If your province portal offers the national ID or Nagarik App QR scan, use it. The details come from the record instead of from your typing. Filling the form properly.

Prepare for the part that actually decides it

Paperwork gets you into the room. The exams decide whether you leave with a licence, and the written half is the one you can guarantee.

The likhit is drawn from a DOTM bank of about 500 published questions. I built Yatayat Likhit to work through it properly on a phone: every question with the reason next to the answer, tracking of what you keep getting wrong, timed mocks in the real format, the Nepali road signs, trial checklists, and an Ishihara-style colour-vision test for the medical. Free, offline, Nepali and English, for A, K and B.

Get it: Yatayat Likhit — free on iPhone and Android. The link opens your own app store.

Keep a copy of everything

Photograph every document before you hand it over, and keep the images somewhere you can reach without the originals — a cloud drive, not only the phone gallery.

What is worth having a copy of:

• Citizenship certificate, both sides
• Your printed application form and the payment receipt
• Your application reference number, written down separately
• The smart card itself, both sides, once you have it
• Your blood group report

Two moments make this pay off. If a document goes missing mid-process you can usually keep going with the copy while you replace the original. And if the card itself is ever lost, the duplicate application asks for exactly these details, and having the licence number saves a great deal of time. The duplicate process.

A note on agents

You will be offered help outside every transport office. Some of it is genuine form-filling assistance for people who find the portal hard. Some of it is not.

Two firm lines. Nobody can sit your exam or your trial for you — attempting that is a serious offence, not a shortcut. And never pay a government fee to an individual's personal eSewa or Khalti number. Fees are paid inside the portal or at the office counter, and the receipt has your name on it.

If someone is filling the form for you, sit with them and check every field against your citizenship before it is submitted. The mistakes are yours to live with, not theirs.

Questions people ask

What documents are required for a driving licence in Nepal?

The original citizenship certificate every time, plus the printed application form, your payment voucher, passport-size photos and a blood group report. Bring photocopies as well, but the original citizenship is the one that matters.

What should I take on trial day?

Original citizenship, your likhit pass confirmation or your name on the published trial list, your existing licence if this is a category add, a helmet for a bike trial, and a vehicle you have actually practised on.

Is a photocopy of citizenship enough?

No. Offices want the original in your hand. Take photocopies in addition, not instead.

Do I need a blood group report before applying?

Yes — it is asked for on the form and printed on the card. Some offices can test on site, but having it already is faster.

Who can apply for a driving licence in Nepal?

Anyone meeting the minimum age for their category (16 for A and K, 18 for B, 21 for heavy), medically fit, and not disqualified. Foreign nationals resident on a valid visa can apply too.

What do I take to collect my licence?

The original citizenship and your application reference — and check the print list before you make the trip.

Keep reading

• Filling the online form — where the process starts.
• The 70-point trial system — what each mistake costs.
• The eye and colour-vision test — the medical.
• Licence print check — before the collection trip.
• Transport office contacts — phone and email for every office.