Nepal has issued documentation instructions for domestic and foreign media personnel travelling to report on recent flooding, including the devastating Bhotekoshi River flood that caused deaths early Wednesday. Foreign journalists must submit copies of passports and valid visas, employment or contract documents from their media organisations, institutional recommendation letters, and recommendations from their home-country foreign ministry or embassy or consular office in Nepal.

The Information Administration and Press Section under Nepal’s Ministry of Information and Communications issued the notice. Information Department spokesperson Govinda Prasad Pandey said the process was not a new policy, describing press-pass issuance for foreign journalists as a longstanding regular procedure. However, a government official told The Kathmandu Post the arrangement was intended to organise news-gathering activities during the current disaster situation and was not a permanent rule.

Applicants must apply online after submitting documents and, once approved, appear in person with two passport-sized photographs to collect a press representative certificate and journalist identification card. Offices will remain open on public holidays, Pandey said. Foreign journalists already in Nepal without passes must obtain them before reporting; reporting without a press pass will not be considered lawful, he said. Nepali journalists must also apply online and provide specified identity, employment, recommendation, education, registration and bank documents.