Nepal has officially opened consulate general offices in Dallas, Texas, and San Francisco, California, serving sizable Nepali communities in both cities.

The launch in Texas and California comes six months after the Cabinet, led by then prime minister KP Sharma Oli, approved the plan. With rising workloads at the Washington DC embassy and New York consulate, and growing Nepali populations across the US, the government opted to expand services by opening these two new consulates.

The San Francisco consulate will cover 11 western states–California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii. The Dallas consulate will serve eight states–Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, and Mississippi.

Nepal’s Consul General to Texas Suresh Adhikari said services started in the last week of September in California and the second week of October in Texas. Though both consulates were approved simultaneously, delays in finalising office locations and technical arrangements led to the staggered openings.

“From what I have learned, services in California are fully operational,” he said. “In Texas, services have begun, but the first weeks are focused on resolving technical issues.”

While passport services are fully active in California, appointment slots in Texas remain limited. The consulate plans to expand availability once technical arrangements are complete.

“Although the offices are operational, a full passport appointment schedule has not yet been published. Initially, 5-10 appointments were opened, but the number will increase after completing certain technical arrangements in Nepal,” Adhikari said.

With staff in place and technical processes finalised, the San Francisco consulate began accepting applications for passports, official documents, consular certifications, and one-way travel permits a month ago. The Consul General said full operations for all services in Texas are expected in about two weeks.