Nepal has formally requested India to recognise its National Identity Card (NID) as a valid travel document for cross-border movement, a senior immigration official confirmed. The proposal, submitted in late June, aims to strengthen identity verification and ease the flow of people across one of the world's most open international borders.

What Nepal Has Proposed

Ram Chandra Tiwari, Director General of Nepal's Department of Immigration, said his office formally sent the proposal to the Government of India seeking recognition of the NID for both air travel and cross-border movement. 'At present, India recognises mainly Nepal's passport and citizenship certificate as official identity documents. We have formally proposed that the National Identity Card also be accepted as a valid identification document for air travel and cross-border movement,' Tiwari said.

Currently, India recognises Nepal's passport and citizenship certificate as valid documents. Citizens of both countries can travel between the two nations without passports or visas under a long-standing bilateral arrangement.

What the NID Is and Why It Matters

Nepal's NID is a biometric document containing fingerprints, facial images, and iris scans — comparable in scope to India's Aadhaar card. The Nepali government has made the NID mandatory for a range of public services, including passport applications, land registration, and opening bank accounts, as it moves to phase out the traditional paper-based citizenship certificate.

Tiwari argued that the NID is a more secure alternative to the citizenship certificate. 'A citizenship certificate is merely a paper document without biometric information, whereas the NID provides a secure and reliable means of identification. Its recognition would enhance security arrangements for both Nepal and India,' he said.

India's Initial Response

Following Nepal's request, officials from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu made informal inquiries with Nepal's immigration authorities about the NID's technical and security features. 'The embassy officials made informal inquiries regarding the card's technical and security aspects. It was not a formal bilateral meeting but an exchange of information,' Tiwari clarified.

No formal bilateral decision has been announced by New Delhi as of the time of reporting.

Scale of Enrolment

According to Nepal's Department of National ID and Civil Registration, more than 4.5 million Nepali citizens have already received the NID, while around 20 million people have enrolled for one. The scale of enrolment underscores the Nepali government's push to make the NID the country's primary identity document.

Current Cross-Border Travel Rules

Nepal and India share an open border under which citizens of both countries can travel freely without passports or visas for most forms of movement. Indian citizens travelling to Nepal by air are currently permitted to use passports, voter identity cards, or identity cards issued by India's central or state governments. Nepal is now seeking a reciprocal expansion of accepted documents for its own citizens.

Whether India formally accepts the NID will hinge on assessments of its security architecture — a process that, based on current diplomatic signals, is still at an early stage.