CAMIS Portal: Company Registration Explained

Published May 20, 2026 · Updated August 14, 2026 with a full stage-by-stage walkthrough, a document checklist, realistic cost figures, and a FAQ section.

As of 2026, company registration in Nepal no longer requires a single visit to a government office. The entire process — from checking name availability to receiving your digital certificate of incorporation — runs through CAMIS, the Company Administration and Management Information System operated by the Office of the Company Registrar (OCR). In short: you reserve a name, upload your MOA/AOA and shareholder documents, OCR reviews everything online, and your certificate is issued through the same portal — usually within 5 to 15 working days for a clean filing. The sections below walk through each stage in detail, what documents you need ready, where applications typically get stuck, and what CAMIS changed versus what it didn't.

What CAMIS replaced

Before CAMIS, registering a company meant physically submitting paper forms at OCR, tracking a file number, and returning in person to collect approvals or respond to queries. Every query — a missing signature, an inconsistent name, a document that needed correction — meant another trip to the office and another wait in a queue. The portal digitized every step of that process, which has meaningfully cut both the time and the friction involved — though it hasn't eliminated the need for accuracy in what you submit. If anything, accuracy matters more now, because there's no clerk at a counter to catch an obvious mismatch before it becomes a formal query sitting in your CAMIS dashboard.

The underlying legal framework didn't change with the move online — registration is still governed by the Companies Act 2063 (2006), and OCR still sits under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies. What changed is the interface: instead of a physical file moving between desks, your application moves through a digital workflow that you and OCR both interact with directly.

The stages inside CAMIS

Name reservation happens first: you submit a proposed name (with backup options) and the system checks it against the existing company registry. Once a name is approved, you move to document submission — Memorandum of Association, Articles of Association, and shareholder/director details, all uploaded digitally. OCR reviews the submission online, and if everything is in order, issues your registration certificate through the portal itself. From there, PAN registration (and VAT, if applicable) is a separate follow-on step handled through the Inland Revenue Department rather than through CAMIS itself.

Each of these stages has its own realistic timing and its own way of going wrong, which is worth understanding in more detail before you start — that's what the step-by-step section below covers.

CAMIS vs the old paper process

It's easier to appreciate what changed by putting the two side by side. The legal requirements underneath are identical — what moved is where you interact with OCR and how quickly information travels back and forth.

Aspect	Old paper process	CAMIS (as of 2026)
Submission method	Physical forms submitted in person at OCR	Uploaded digitally through the portal
Tracking progress	Tracking a physical file number, often by visiting in person	Tracked directly through the CAMIS dashboard
Responding to a query	Another in-person visit to OCR	Resubmit corrected documents through the portal
Legal requirements (MOA/AOA, documents, fees)	Same as CAMIS	Same as the old process
Certificate delivery	Collected in person	Issued digitally through the portal

Step-by-step: registering through CAMIS

Name reservation. Submit your proposed company name — in English and Nepali — with two or three backup options in case your first choice is already taken. OCR checks it against the existing registry through CAMIS. An approved name is typically reserved for a limited window, so it's worth having your MOA/AOA drafting largely ready to go once the name clears, rather than letting the reservation lapse while you're still drafting.
Document preparation. Draft the Memorandum of Association (MOA) and Articles of Association (AOA) to match your actual shareholding, capital, and business objectives — not a generic template pulled from somewhere else. This is the stage where the specific wording of your objects clause and share structure gets set, and errors here tend to surface later as OCR queries rather than being caught immediately.
Online submission through CAMIS. Upload the application, MOA, AOA, and shareholder/director documents through the portal together. This is where small inconsistencies — a name spelled differently across two documents — cause the most common rejections, so a careful cross-check before you hit submit is worth the extra ten minutes.
OCR examination. OCR reviews the submission for consistency, completeness, and compliance with the Companies Act. Most sources cite 5 to 15 working days for this stage on a clean filing, depending on document completeness and OCR's review queue at the time.
Certificate of incorporation. Once approved, OCR issues your registration certificate through the portal itself — your company now legally exists as a distinct entity, separate from its owners.
PAN, and VAT if applicable. A mandatory next step, but handled by the Inland Revenue Department rather than OCR or CAMIS. PAN registration is required for every registered company; VAT registration is required once turnover crosses the applicable threshold (NPR 50 lakh for goods businesses, NPR 30 lakh for services), or immediately for certain specified sectors regardless of turnover.

See our full company registration guide for the complete process, document checklist, and realistic cost breakdown in one place.

Document checklist for CAMIS submission

Every CAMIS application needs, at minimum, the following ready before you start uploading:

Citizenship certificate or passport for every shareholder and director
Passport-size photos of all shareholders and directors
Proposed company name with 2–3 backup options, in English and Nepali
Registered office address details
Proposed business objectives and share structure
National ID numbers for every shareholder and director
Foreign investment approval, if any shareholding is foreign
Signed MOA and AOA matching your exact company name

Having every item on this list ready and cross-checked before you open the portal is the single biggest thing you can do to avoid the query-and-resubmit cycle that stretches out an otherwise straightforward filing.

What registration actually costs

OCR calculates registration fees on a tiered scale tied to your authorized capital submitted through CAMIS — there's no single flat fee. For a standard Private Limited company at a modest capital tier, total costs — including government fees, stamp duty, notarization, and miscellaneous filing expenses — commonly total NPR 15,000 to 25,000, before any professional service fee. Public Limited registration sits meaningfully higher at every capital tier, reflecting the higher minimum capital and additional disclosure obligations that structure carries. Setting an unnecessarily large authorized capital "just in case" quietly inflates your upfront cost through CAMIS for no real benefit, so it's worth sizing your capital figure to your actual near-term plans.

There's also a cost to getting it wrong: a rejected filing can mean redoing notarization or stamp duty on corrected paperwork — effectively paying part of the fee twice. Getting documents right the first time through CAMIS is usually cheaper in practice than filing at the lowest possible cost and risking a rejection and resubmission cycle.

Where most applications get stuck

The OCR rejects applications for surprisingly mechanical reasons: inconsistent company names between the MOA and the application form, missing National ID numbers, or unsigned documents. None of these are complex legal problems — they're checklist problems, which is exactly why they're so avoidable with a careful review before submission, and exactly why they're also so common. A single-character mismatch between how a director's name appears on their citizenship document versus the MOA is enough to trigger a query, and every query adds processing time to what should otherwise be a straightforward filing.

Because CAMIS is a digital system without a person physically reviewing your papers at a counter, these mismatches don't get caught until OCR's examination stage — which means the delay shows up further down the timeline than it would have in the old paper process, not earlier. Cross-checking every name, number, and address across every document before you submit is the single most effective thing you can do to keep your filing moving on the first pass.

What CAMIS didn't change

The underlying legal requirements are the same as before — you still need accurate MOA/AOA drafting matched to your shareholding structure, still need to choose the right entity type before you start (see our comparison of Private Limited vs Public Limited if you're deciding), and still need PAN and VAT registration as separate follow-on steps once your certificate is issued. The portal changed how you file, not what you need to get right before filing. If your company involves foreign shareholding, you also still need foreign investment approval and the investment recorded with Nepal Rastra Bank — a step that's easy to overlook and matters significantly if you ever want to repatriate profits or capital, and CAMIS doesn't handle that piece for you.

Whether to file it yourself

CAMIS is genuinely more accessible than the old paper process, and a straightforward single-shareholder Private Limited registration is within reach for a comfortable, detail-oriented founder. Where it gets harder is anything with multiple shareholders, foreign investment, or an unusual objects clause — small drafting errors there tend to surface as OCR queries weeks into the process, which is exactly the delay a second pair of eyes on the documents is meant to prevent.

A useful way to think about it: if you can confidently answer what your objects clause should say, how your share structure should be reflected in the AOA, and whether any of your shareholders trigger foreign investment requirements, filing directly through CAMIS is workable. If any of those feel uncertain, that uncertainty is exactly what tends to turn into a query weeks into the process rather than something caught up front — which is where having a registration service handle the drafting and submission earns back the time it costs.

Tips for a smoother CAMIS filing

A few habits consistently separate a clean, fast CAMIS filing from one that stalls in query cycles for weeks.

Finalize your entity type before you reserve a name. Switching between Private Limited and Public Limited after you've started drafting the MOA/AOA means redoing that drafting work — decide first, then start the portal process.
Draft the MOA/AOA in parallel with waiting on name approval, rather than starting document drafting only after the name clears — since the reservation window is limited, this keeps you from losing an approved name to a drafting delay.
Do a line-by-line name and number cross-check across every document — citizenship certificates, MOA, AOA, and the application form — before you upload anything. This single step prevents the most common category of OCR query.
Keep scanned documents legible and properly signed before uploading — a technically complete but poorly scanned or unsigned document gets treated the same as a missing one.
Confirm foreign investment approval and Nepal Rastra Bank recording separately if any shareholder is foreign — CAMIS doesn't prompt for these, and skipping them creates a compliance gap that surfaces later, often when you try to repatriate profits or capital.
Plan for the PAN and VAT step immediately after your certificate is issued, rather than treating registration as "done" once you have the certificate — a company isn't fully operational for invoicing and tax purposes until PAN is in place.

Common mistakes to avoid

Letting the company name differ even slightly between the MOA and the application form. This is one of the most common reasons for an OCR query, and it's entirely avoidable with a careful comparison before submission.
Leaving National ID numbers blank or entering them incorrectly for any shareholder or director — a pure data-entry error that stops the whole application until corrected.
Uploading unsigned documents. A document that's otherwise perfect but missing a required signature gets treated the same as a missing document.
Letting an approved name reservation lapse by not having your MOA/AOA drafting ready to follow it — since the reservation window is limited, this can cost you the name and force you to start the reservation step over.
Skipping Nepal Rastra Bank recording for foreign investment because CAMIS itself doesn't prompt for it — this step exists outside the portal but is still legally required when any shareholding is foreign.
Setting authorized capital unrealistically high "just in case," which inflates your registration fee through CAMIS's tiered fee calculation without a real corresponding benefit.

Our free Document Suite can help you merge, convert, or password-protect the documents you upload through CAMIS.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to visit an OCR office at all if I use CAMIS?

The core registration process — name reservation, document submission, and certificate issuance — runs entirely through the portal. In practice, most straightforward filings don't require an in-person visit, though the system may require follow-up if OCR raises a query on your submission.

How long does CAMIS registration actually take?

Most sources cite 5 to 15 working days from submission to certificate for a straightforward Private Limited filing, depending on document completeness and OCR's review queue. Filings with multiple shareholders, foreign investment, or document inconsistencies typically take longer.

Can I check my application status on CAMIS?

Yes — CAMIS is designed as a portal you interact with directly through the registration process, including tracking where your application stands, rather than relying on in-person follow-up as the old paper system required.

Does CAMIS handle PAN and VAT registration too?

No. PAN registration, and VAT registration where applicable, are handled separately by the Inland Revenue Department after your OCR certificate is issued — CAMIS covers company registration itself, not tax registration.

What's the most common reason a CAMIS application gets delayed?

Inconsistent company names between the MOA and the application form, missing National ID numbers, or unsigned documents — all checklist-level errors rather than complex legal problems, and all avoidable with a careful review before submission.

Is filing through CAMIS myself cheaper than using a registration service?

The OCR government fees themselves are the same either way, since they're set by the tiered capital-based fee schedule regardless of who submits the filing. What a registration service saves you is the time and rejection risk that comes with drafting and cross-checking the documents yourself, which matters most for structures beyond a simple single-shareholder filing.

Can I amend my application after submitting it through CAMIS?

If OCR raises a query on your submission, you can typically respond with corrected documents through the portal rather than starting the entire application over. That said, the cleanest path is still avoiding the query in the first place through careful cross-checking before you submit.

Is CAMIS the only way to register a company in Nepal now?

As of 2026, registration runs through CAMIS as OCR's standard process. The underlying legal requirements — MOA/AOA, shareholder documentation, tiered fees — are unchanged from before; only the submission channel moved online.

Bottom line

CAMIS made Nepal's company registration process faster and more accessible, but it didn't lower the bar for accuracy — if anything, it raised it, since there's no in-person clerk to catch an inconsistency before it becomes a formal query sitting unresolved in your dashboard. Have your documents complete and cross-checked before you start, know your entity type and share structure going in, and budget 5 to 15 working days for a clean filing. If your situation involves more than a single straightforward shareholder — multiple investors, foreign capital, or an unusual objects clause — that's exactly where a small drafting error tends to hide until OCR flags it weeks in. Our company registration team can handle the CAMIS filing end to end, from name reservation through your PAN and VAT registration, so the only thing you're waiting on is OCR's review.