Nepalis in New Zealand forced to travel to Australia to renew passports

Nepalis living in New Zealand have complained that they must travel to Australia or even Nepal to renew their passports and access other consular services.

The lack of a Nepali embassy in New Zealand and prolonged technical problems with passport printing have been cited as the reasons.

According to Dr. Achyut Aryal, president of the Non-Resident Nepali Association in New Zealand, such complaints are coming especially from students.

He said having to travel abroad for these services has increased both time and cost, affecting students' daily lives and plans.

Leaders of the Nepali community in New Zealand have drawn the Nepal government's attention to the problem.

According to Tara Gautam, acting ambassador at the Nepali embassy in Canberra, the new contract for passport printing has been given to a German company, and it will take 3 months for the system to become operational.

The embassy plans to run mobile consular services in New Zealand at least twice a year starting from the beginning of next year.