How to Update Your Mobile Number on a Nepali Driving Licence

Updated 12 August 2026. Portal details below were checked against the live eDLVRS province portals on this date. Nepal’s driving licence services moved fully online on 1 Shrawan 2083 (17 July 2026), and the system is still settling — the Department of Transport Management has said publicly that it may take a few more months to fully stabilise.

Here is the problem almost nobody anticipates. To view your own licence details online, the portal sends an OTP to the mobile number already linked to your licence. If you changed your SIM three years ago, or the number was your brother’s when you first applied, that OTP goes to a phone you no longer control — and you are locked out of your own record.

You do not need to visit a transport office to fix this. There is a way to update the mobile number on your driving licence directly from the OTP screen, it is free, and it takes about two minutes. This guide shows exactly where it hides, what the rules are, and what to do when the portal misbehaves.

First, find your province’s portal

Driving licences in Nepal are handled province-wise. Each province has its own eDLVRS portal, and you must use the province that issued your licence — not the province you currently live in.

All seven portals are live. Every one of them serves both EDL (driving licence) and VRS (vehicle registration); for anything licence-related, choose the EDL card.

One spelling trap worth memorising: Bagmati’s portal is spelled bagamati, with an extra “a”. The intuitive edlvrs.bagmati.gov.np does not exist at all — it returns a DNS error, not a helpful redirect. A lot of people conclude “the site is down” when they have simply typed the province name the way it is normally spelled.

A National ID (राष्ट्रिय परिचयपत्र, NID) is now compulsory across all driving licence services on these portals. Our guide to the NID requirement for driving licence services covers what to do if you do not have one yet.

Why the linked mobile number matters more than you think

This is not a cosmetic detail on a database record. The number is the system’s proof that you are you, and it is used at several points in the process:

• OTP verification — every attempt to view your licence details sends a one-time code to the linked number
• Medical check-up notification — after a renewal application, the portal states you will be notified for the medical step by SMS on that number
• Application tracking — the portal sends a tracking link by SMS
• Renewal and process updates as your application moves between steps

There is one more constraint that catches people out: the portal requires the new number to be registered in your own name, and it says it verifies this against the SIM operator’s records before accepting the change. Putting your son’s or your employer’s number on your licence will not work.

How to update the mobile number: step by step

The “Update mobile number” option is not in the main menu. It only appears on the OTP screen — which is deliberate, because that is exactly the moment you discover the old number is dead.

1. Open your province portal and choose EDL. Go to your province’s eDLVRS address, then select the EDL card.

2. Click “Driving License Details”. This is the lookup tool, and the entry point for the whole fix.

3. Fill the four required fields.

The date of birth field trips up more people than anything else on this form. The label literally reads Date of Birth (AD). If you enter your BS date, the lookup simply fails and the portal will not tell you why.

4. Get the licence number format right.

Pick the radio button that matches the licence in your hand. Choosing the wrong format makes a perfectly valid number look invalid.

5. Submit — and read the masked number. The portal now shows the mobile number linked to your licence, partially masked (you will see only the last digits). This is your moment of truth: if those digits are not your current phone, you have found the problem.

6. Find the amber box: “Is this the wrong number?” On the OTP screen, below the code entry, there is a helper box headed “Is this the wrong number?” (के यो गलत नम्बर हो?). It explains: “If you no longer have access to this mobile number, you can update it here.” Click Update mobile number.

7. Enter your new number and click Update. The field is labelled New mobile number. It must be 10 digits starting with 97 or 98 — the portal rejects anything else outright. Remember it must be a SIM registered in your own name.

8. Verify the fresh OTP. Here is the part that matters most: the portal confirms “Mobile number updated. Sending a fresh OTP…” and sends the new code to the NEW number. You do not need access to the old SIM at any point. That is the entire reason this escape hatch exists.

9. Confirm it worked. Go back to Driving License Details, enter the same details again, and submit. The masked number should now show your new digits. In the video above, the last-two digits change from the old number to the new one — that is the confirmation you are looking for.

What this path costs

Nothing. There is no fee for this specific action, no National ID image upload, and no office approval queue. It is a direct self-service correction.

Don’t confuse this with “License Update” — they are different services

The portal also has a separate top-level menu item called License Update, and mixing the two up will cost you time and money.

If your only problem is that the OTP goes to a dead number, use the amber box on the OTP screen. Do not start a License Update application — it is a heavier, paid process meant for correcting the licence record itself.

We have not published the License Update fee amount here because the portal only reveals it mid-flow, after National ID verification. Anyone quoting you a fixed figure for it online is guessing.

The daily limits nobody mentions

The portal quietly rate-limits these tools, and the messages are easy to scroll past:

• Driving License Details: 2 views per day per licence
• Renew License: 3 applications per day per licence number

This matters practically. If you burn both daily lookups experimenting with BS dates and the wrong licence format, you are done until tomorrow. Get your details right on the first attempt: name exactly as printed, correct format radio, AD date of birth.

When the portal misbehaves

The system went fully online on 17 July 2026, and the rollout has been bumpy. DoTM’s information officer publicly said the system may take another two to three months to mature and stabilise, and some offices — including Bagmati’s ministry and the Bhaktapur (Radhe Radhe) office — published notices temporarily suspending non-essential online services during data migration.

Two symptoms come up constantly in user reports. Neither is documented officially, but both have plausible technical explanations worth knowing:

A blank or black screen. The portal is a single-page JavaScript application and defaults to a dark theme. If one script file fails to load on a weak connection, you get a black screen rather than an error message. Reloading the page usually restores it — in the video above, exactly this happens, and a reload brings the form back.

A token error mid-form. The portal uses Google reCAPTCHA plus a session token, and both expire. Tokens like these typically time out in a couple of minutes, so a form you started, left to find your licence, and came back to ten minutes later can fail at submission even though every field is correct.

The practical response to both is the same, and it is unglamorous: reload the page, fill the form in one go without long pauses, and try again at off-peak hours. These are sensible workarounds rather than official guidance — DoTM has not published a troubleshooting page for either symptom.

If OTP delivery itself is the problem rather than the number being wrong, our guide to eDLVRS login and OTP problems covers carrier delays and the “number already registered” error separately.

What else you can do once you are in

Once your mobile number is correct and OTPs reach you, the same portal handles the rest of the licence lifecycle. The full EDL menu covers:

• New License
• Add Category — see our guide to adding a category to your licence
• Renew License — steps in applying and renewing online via eDLVRS
• License Copy — if yours is lost or damaged, see duplicate driving licence in Nepal
• Retrial (New License) and Retrial (Add Category)
• License Update
• Driving License Details
• Application Tracking

Once a renewal is approved and printed, you can follow it with our smart licence print status check guide.

A note on renewal timing

In the video, the portal responds to a renewal attempt with a message stating the licence is not expired and that renewal can be requested relative to the expiry date. We are deliberately not publishing a specific “renew X months before expiry” rule here, because we could not verify one from any government source — and the figures circulating on Nepali blogs contradict each other.

What we can point to is an official provincial source. The Transport Management Office in Hetauda, Bagmati Province, publishes this schedule:

Renewal fees on the same page: large vehicles Rs 3,000, medium Rs 2,500, small excluding motorcycle/scooter Rs 2,000, motorcycle and scooter Rs 1,500. Where a licence carries multiple categories, only the highest fee applies. A licence copy (प्रतिलिपि) is Rs 500.

Two honest caveats. Licensing is a provincial subject in Nepal, so these figures are published by Bagmati and may differ elsewhere — our province-wise driving licence fee guide goes into that. And that page describes the older offline workflow, so it may predate the July 2026 online rollout. Confirm the current amount on your own province’s portal before paying. If you are already late, our guide to the driving licence renewal fine in Nepal has more detail.

Frequently asked questions

Can I change the mobile number on my driving licence online in Nepal?

Yes. On your province’s eDLVRS portal, go to Driving License Details, submit your licence details, and on the OTP screen click Update mobile number in the “Is this the wrong number?” box. It is free and does not require an office visit.

Do I need access to my old SIM to change the number?

No. This is the whole point of the feature. After you submit the new number, the portal sends a fresh OTP to the new number, not the old one. If your old SIM is lost, dead, or belonged to someone else, you can still complete the change.

Is there a fee to update the mobile number?

No fee for this path. Do not confuse it with the separate License Update service in the main menu, which does have a fee, requires a National ID image, and needs office approval.

Can I use a family member’s mobile number?

No. The portal states the new number must be registered under your own name, and says it checks the name against your SIM operator’s records before accepting the change.

Why does the portal say my licence number is invalid when it isn’t?

Three usual causes, in order of frequency: you entered your date of birth in Bikram Sambat instead of AD; you selected the wrong Licence Format radio button (new format is 14 characters, old format is 9); or your name does not match the licence exactly. Remember you only get two lookups per day, so check all three before resubmitting.

The screen went black. Is the site down?

Usually not. The portal is a JavaScript app with a dark theme by default, and a failed script load renders as a black screen. Reload the page and it typically returns. If it persists, try off-peak hours — the system has been under heavy load since the July 2026 rollout.

Need help with this?

If you are stuck on a licence lookup, an OTP that never arrives, or a renewal that will not go through, Digital Solution helps people through these processes every day from our office in Pokhara — and remotely for Nepalis abroad.

WhatsApp us on +977 9766597181 with your question. Tell us your province and what the portal is showing you, and we will tell you what the next step is.

For official complaints, DoTM can be reached at gunaso@dotm.gov.np and info@dotm.gov.np, and each province publishes its own eDLVRS support contact on its portal.

A last word. The single most useful habit here is to keep the mobile number on your licence current before you need it. The number is not just a contact detail — it is the key to your own record. The day you need to renew urgently, or check whether your smart licence has been printed, is a bad day to discover the OTP is going to a SIM you threw away in 2081.

Sources: live eDLVRS province portals (checked 12 August 2026); Transport Management Office Hetauda, Bagmati Province; Department of Transport Management. Fees and fines are as published by Bagmati Province and may vary by province — always confirm on your own province’s portal.