Lost Document in Nepal (2026): Where to Report a Lost Citizenship Certificate, Passport, Driving Licence or Lalpurja

Losing a government paper in Nepal is rarely one phone call and one counter. There is no single lost-and-found desk for citizenship certificates, passports, driving licences and land ownership papers, and anyone who tells you there is has probably not tried it themselves. What follows is how to work out where to go, what to ask when you get there, and how to avoid the two things that cost people the most time: standing in the wrong queue, and waiting weeks before telling anyone the document is gone.

Last reviewed: October 2026.

Why there is no single lost document office in Nepal

Every one of these papers is a record held somewhere. A citizenship certificate sits in a district register. A passport sits with the passport authority. A licence sits with the transport office that printed it. A lalpurja sits with the land revenue office for the district where the land is.

That is the whole logic of it. The replacement does not come from a general government office. It comes from whoever keeps the record you lost. So the first question is never where do I report a lost document in Nepal. It is: who is holding my record right now?

Three questions that decide where you go

Before you travel anywhere, get clear answers to these:

Who issued it? The office that issued the document is almost always the office that can reissue it.
Who holds the register today? Offices get renamed, merged or shifted to new buildings. A name you remember from five years ago may not be the name on the door now.
What does that office call the replacement? Asking for a duplicate, a reissue or a new copy can send you to different counters. Use the office's own wording.

Where to report it, document by document

Lost citizenship certificate (nagarikta)

Citizenship certificates are issued and reissued through the District Administration Office (DAO). Which DAO depends on where your nagarikta was issued and where your record sits, so confirm the specific office and counter before you set out. If you have moved districts since the certificate was made, that matters a lot, and the next section walks through why.

Lost passport in Nepal

The Department of Passports is the body that issues and reissues Nepali passports. Which office currently handles your case, and what appointment or queue system is in use, is something only its own published information can tell you. Check there rather than relying on what a friend did two years ago. If your passport is intact but expiring rather than lost, the process is different and starts from passport renewal in Nepal.

Lost driving licence in Nepal

Licences come under the Department of Transport Management and the transport management offices that issue them. Your record is tied to the office that issued your licence, so a lost licence is usually a matter for that office, or the one now responsible for its area. Ask whether the replacement is issued on the spot or after a waiting period, and whether you need to bring the police report with you.

Lost lalpurja (land ownership certificate)

Land papers are handled by the land revenue office, the malpot karyalaya, for the district where the land is located. If the problem involves measurements or boundaries as well as a missing paper, the survey office may also be involved. Start with malpot and ask. Note that a lost lalpurja is often the first step in a longer chain, and if you were already planning to change the name on the paper, read up on lalpurja transfer before you go so you can ask about both in one visit.

A case that trips people up: a citizenship certificate from another district

Here is the situation that sends more people on wasted trips than any other.

A woman was issued her nagarikta by the DAO in her home district in eastern Nepal. She has lived and worked in Kathmandu for eight years. Her certificate is now missing, and she assumes she can walk into the DAO in Kathmandu and collect a replacement, because that is where she lives and pays rent.

That assumption is usually wrong, or at least incomplete. Her record was created in her home district, on the basis of the ward recommendation and her parent's citizenship details filed there. Kathmandu's DAO is not the custodian of that file unless something has been formally transferred. So the first call is to the DAO that issued it, not the nearest one.

What she should actually do, in order:

1. Find any photocopy or scan of the old certificate and note the certificate number and issue date. Old job applications, college files and bank records often still have a copy attached.
2. Contact the DAO in her home district and ask two things: whether her record is still held there, and whether the duplicate can be processed locally in Kathmandu on the strength of a ward recommendation and a police report.
3. Ask her local ward office in Kathmandu what recommendation letter it is willing to issue, since that is often the document that starts the process.
4. Get the police report before travelling, because a trip made without it is a trip made twice.
5. Keep a dated note of who told her what, and at which counter.

Sometimes the answer is that a duplicate can be arranged from Kathmandu. Sometimes it is that someone has to appear in the district of issue, or send a relative with written authorisation. The point is that the answer depends on the record's location, not on where she sleeps at night. One phone call to the right DAO settles in ten minutes what a day of guessing will not.

Five questions to ask at the counter

Take these with you, in writing if it helps:

1. Is this the office that holds my record, or do I need a different one?
2. What do you need from me, and can I get that list in writing or from your website?
3. Is there a fee, how much, and how is it paid?
4. How long does it usually take, and will I get a receipt or a reference number?
5. Will the replacement carry the same number and details as the old one? If not, who else needs to be told?

That last question matters more than it sounds. If a replacement licence or land paper comes back with different details, banks, insurers and other offices may need to update their records too.

Report the loss early, and get a police report

In practice, most offices asked to replace a lost document in Nepal will want to see a police report of the loss, lodged at the local police office, with the receipt or acknowledgement they give you. Treat that as the default assumption rather than an optional extra. The exact requirement does vary by office and by document, and it has changed over time, so confirm with the issuing office what they want and in what form. But do not wait for that confirmation before you report the loss. Lodge the report, keep the receipt, and ask the office afterwards whether anything further is needed.

Be deliberate about this if the missing paper is a lalpurja or a nagarikta. Photocopies of both circulate in daily business, and a document that is missing but not reported is a document someone else could try to use. Reporting early is not paperwork for its own sake.

Also put the loss in writing to the issuing office and keep a dated copy of whatever you send. Note the name of anyone you speak to. If a counter tells you something different from what the website says, having dates attached to both versions is what lets you sort it out later.

What this guide covers, and what you still need to confirm

This page sticks to what holds up: which institution is responsible for each document, and the questions worth asking at the counter. It deliberately leaves out fees, checklists and turnaround times. Those numbers belong to the offices, they change with little notice, and a figure copied from last year is exactly what sends a reader on a wasted trip. You will find plenty of blogs quoting exact amounts. Treat any such figure with suspicion unless it states the date it was checked and where.

Before you travel, confirm the current office, counter and requirements directly with the issuing office. The structure does not change quickly, though: the issuer holds the record, and the issuer is where the replacement comes from.

Last reviewed: October 2026.