| Username |
Post |
| Ranjan |
Posted
on 23-Dec-02 07:58 PM
I'm visiting Nepal for about 45 days and would like to take my laptop computer with me to get some work done while I'm there. Is there a provision that allows me to get my passport stamped saying that I will return with the laptop or do I have to pay customs? If I have to pay customs then about what % of the cost should I expect to pay? I'm a NRN if that makes any difference.
I would really appreciate any help in this matter. I'm leaning towards not taking it with me to avoid the hassel at the airport.
thank you
Ranjan
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| Logical Sense |
Posted
on 23-Dec-02 09:06 PM
Three scenarios:
1) Looks like you are travelling with foreign passport, then you should have no worries. Get them stamp your passport with Laptop information and make sure to ask them to check it off when you leave Nepal with the laptop (they may hasstle you next time you visit Nepal siting you may have left the laptop in Nepal).
2) If you are a Nepali citizen travelling with Nepalese passport then get ready with either:
Pay the bribe or the custom, or in their mercy to let you get out and in.
3) And if you are a GC holder with Nepalese passport then you may be able to prove that you will come back with the laptop. But, you may have to leave your laptop in the airport (make sure to take the recipt) and then visit the custom office later and run around here and there to stamp in the passport.
My experience is to leave the laptop at the airport. Go home happily and then ask your Dada looking nephew to go and get your passport stamped and bring the laptop. Make sure to give him Rs 800.00 ($10.00) and tell him that rest is yours to enjoy.
Don't quote me on last paragraph it is not (mine) LOGICAL, but, it is definitely PRACTICAL :)
- iti
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| rabi |
Posted
on 23-Dec-02 10:51 PM
Ranjan:
See earlier discussion in Sajha. You should get that thread if you search for "laptop". The gist of that discussion was that some people have been allowed to take laptop in while others have been hassled and made to pay customs.
Somebody said that he (Arnico?) was allowed to take the laptop in after he convinced the customs officers with a letter from his school saying that the laptop was issued by the college and that he would take it back with him.
Imagine my surprise when I read that here at Sajha, because in 2001 the customs folks at TIA made me pay customs (with proper receits and all; it was NOT a bribe). I argued with different customs officers and their hakims for half an hour that the laptop was from work and that I had to bring it with me to Nepal because I had to check work email during my week long staty there. I showed them letter from work. They would not budge. I even offered to leave the laptop at the airport or have the serial number noted on my passport. No luck. I paid customs. Having been away from Nepal for a few years, I was able to claim some kind of "subidha" and paid only around NRS 1000.
So the short answer to your question is: they may wave you in after noting the serial number on your passport, if you can convince them that you will take it back with you. Or, they may decide to bilk you with some bribe by denying that there is no such thing as taking a laptop in for use while in Nepal. Not much helpful info for you, I know, but that's what I have been able to learn from my experience and discussions here.
I will not carry a laptop with me into Nepal in future unless I intend to leave it in Nepal.
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