Guide · Before you pay tuition
How to get an NOC for study abroad from Nepal
An NOC (No Objection Certificate) is the Ministry of Education's permission letter for studying abroad. Without it, no Nepali bank will send your tuition. You apply online at noc.moest.gov.np once you have your offer letter. It costs Rs 2,000 and usually takes 1 to 5 working days. Most students never visit the office.
Written bySushma Karki, Senior counsellorHandles Australia and Finland files, from offer letter to visa.
Checked byRabindra Joshi, Head of complianceChecks every money and visa page against the official source.
Published · 7 min read
The NOC at a glance
- What it is
- Permission letter from the Ministry of Education
- Where you apply
- noc.moest.gov.np, online
- When
- After your offer letter, before you pay tuition
- Fee
- Rs 2,000 per NOC, paid online
- How long
- Usually 1 to 5 working days
- The office
- Foreign Study Permission Section, Sanothimi, Bhaktapur
As of October 2026. Check the fee on the portal before you pay.
What an NOC is and who needs one
The NOC is the Ministry of Education's written permission to study abroad. Its Nepali name is वैदेशिक अध्ययन अनुमति पत्र, the foreign study permission letter, and the ministry's Foreign Study Permission Section issues it.
Its real job is money. Under Nepal Rastra Bank rules, a Nepali bank won't send tuition or living costs abroad for study without one. If you are paying a foreign university from Nepal, you need an NOC.
- Bachelor's, master's and PhD courses
- Diploma, advanced diploma and pathway courses after +2. The ministry tried to stop these NOCs in April 2023 and reversed the decision the same month.
- Every country we work with: Australia, the UK and the other 8 European countries on our destinations page
The university must be one the Nepal government recognises. You get one NOC per university, so if you change university or country, the old NOC is cancelled and you apply again.
India is the exception families ask about. Students go there without an NOC today, though the ministry has said it is discussing making one compulsory.
When to apply for your NOC
Apply as soon as you have your offer letter and know your fee. Not earlier, because the form asks for the university, course and fee written on that letter. Not later, because every country we work with needs a payment before the visa, and that payment needs the NOC.
| Country | What the NOC lets you pay | What that payment gets you |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Tuition deposit and health cover (OSHC) | Your CoE, which you need to lodge the visa |
| UK | Tuition deposit | Your CAS, which you need to lodge the visa |
| Germany | Blocked account (€11,904 for a year) | The blocked account confirmation the embassy asks for |
| Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands | First tuition payment, and living funds where the country asks for them | The residence permit application |
| Belgium | Living funds (blocked account or bank guarantee) | The type D visa application |
| Cyprus | Tuition deposit | The entry permit application |
Germany is where the timing hurts most. An education loan can take weeks to sanction, the NOC must come before the transfer, and the embassy wants the blocked account confirmation at your appointment. Aayush's file for Aachen shows the dates written backwards from the visa appointment.
Documents you need for the NOC
Most students need five documents, scanned clearly as PDF or JPG.
- Citizenship certificate, front and back
- Passport, photo page
- Offer letter showing your name, course, duration and fee
- Marksheets and certificates for every level you have finished: SEE, +2, and your bachelor's if you have one
- English test result, if your offer letter asks for one
Some students also need:
- An equivalence certificate, if you studied a non-Nepali board such as CBSE or A levels
- A scholarship letter, if a scholarship lowers the fee on your offer
Write your name the same way everywhere. A name spelled one way on your passport and another way on your +2 transcript is one of the commonest reasons an NOC comes back.
How to apply for an NOC online, step by step
The whole process is online, and has been since 15 May 2023. Set aside about an hour with your scans ready.
- Go to noc.moest.gov.np and register with your mobile number and email. A one-time code confirms the account.
- Fill in your personal details exactly as they appear on your passport.
- Choose the country, level and institution. If your university isn't listed, use the Request to Add option. It is usually added within 24 to 48 hours.
- Enter the course, duration and fee exactly as they are written on your offer letter.
- Upload your documents and submit. Write down your application ID.
- Pay the Rs 2,000 fee when the portal asks for it, through ConnectIPS, eSewa or Khalti.
- Log in to follow the status. It shows pending, verified, or rejected with a comment.
- Once it's approved, download the NOC. It carries a QR code your bank scans to check it. Print it in colour.
If the ministry wants to see an original, it will ask you to come to the Foreign Study Permission Section in Sanothimi, Bhaktapur. Most students are never asked.
How much the NOC costs and how long it takes
The NOC costs Rs 2,000 and most come in 1 to 5 working days. Expect longer in the weeks before the big intakes, when thousands of students apply at once.
Most delays come from the application, not from the ministry. In September 2025, when the section reopened after the Gen Z protests, it received 431 applications in one day. 177 of them were sent back because the documents weren't complete. Clear scans, every marksheet and matching names would have saved each of them a second wait.
Plan for the NOC to take a full week, so a slow week doesn't push your payment past the university's deadline.
Why NOCs get rejected and how to fix it
Almost every rejection is a paperwork reason, and the portal tells you which one. Fix that exact reason and apply again. Re-uploading the same file without changing it gets the same answer.
- Blurry or cut-off scans
- Your name, date of birth or passport number written differently across documents
- Course, fee or university typed differently from the offer letter
- A marksheet missing for one level
- Two applications for the same intake
One reason you can't fix with a new upload: a university the Nepal government doesn't recognise. If that's your rejection, stop and get advice before you pay that university anything.
What to do once you have the NOC
Take the printed NOC, your offer letter and your passport to your bank, and send the payment. The bank checks the QR code and sends the money to the university named on the NOC. It can't send it anywhere else.
Keep a copy with your visa documents. If you change university after this point, cancel the NOC on the portal and get a new one before you pay the new university.
What may change about the NOC in 2026
Nothing had changed when we checked on 19 October 2026. But a change is being discussed, and it matters.
In April 2026 the government proposed sorting subjects into priority and non-priority, with foreign currency released only for priority subjects. No list of subjects has been published. If it comes in, it would decide whether some courses can be paid for from Nepal at all.
We'll update this guide the day an official notice is published, and change the date at the top.
Do you need a consultancy for your NOC?
No. It's a Rs 2,000 online form, and this guide covers every step. If the NOC is the only thing you need help with, do it yourself and keep your money.
Where a counsellor helps is around it: getting the offer letter it depends on, putting the NOC, payment and visa in the right order for your country, and building the visa file after it. Our fee for that is Rs 20,000 per application file, written in your contract. Our student case studies show what that looks like, with dates.
