Brunei or Nepal
Two countries side by side across the same rows as the full comparison. A dash means the value is missing: fields are not filled with guesses. about the data
| Brunei | Nepal | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | 20 years | 15 years |
| Partner can work | no | — |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | no trouble | difficult |
| Pet limit | no limit | no limit |
| Quarantine | no | — |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 946 · estimate | $ 254 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 31,6 | $ 15,8 |
| Life expectancy | 75.5 | 70.64 |
| Homicides/100k | 0.49 | 2.13 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 2.8 | 5.1 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Brunei — 19, Nepal — 22. Types present in both: work, family, investment, talent and repatriation. Nepal adds: study and retirement.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
Brunei: the fee is 50 BND wherever it is published. Nepal: fees range from 10 to 700 USD. Routes with no fee: 1. Routes stating an income threshold: 5; the lowest is 3,000 USD a year. Routes with a published decision deadline: 22; the shortest is 1 days.
Beyond the first permit
Citizenship: Brunei after 20 years, Nepal after 15 years. Neither recognises a second citizenship.
Brunei in brief
Brunei is an oil-and-gas monarchy on the island of Borneo with one of the most closed long-term entry regimes in the world. The grounds for working residence are the Employment Pass, rigidly tied to a specific employer and requiring the employer to hold a Foreign Workers Licence from the Department of Labour, the Professional Visit Pass for select categories of experts, the Dependant's Pass for family members, and the Student's Pass. For none of these categories does the immigration service's official website publish processing times. There is no separate permanent residence status with a published number of years: the closest analogue, the Entry Permit, is granted at the discretion of the Controller of Immigration without an objective criterion. Naturalisation is governed by the Brunei Nationality Act (Cap. 15): 20 years of residence in the country out of the preceding 25 years, an oral exam in Malay before the Language Board, and a decision made entirely at the Sultan's discretion; time spent in the country on temporary passes (including work passes) does not count toward this period unless the Sultan directs otherwise. Dual citizenship is not permitted. There is no personal income tax — the Income Tax Act taxes only the income of legal entities. The country's economy rests on the extraction and export of oil and natural gas. Since 2014 the Syariah Penal Code Order, 2013 has been phased in and is in force; under the code's direct provision (s. 3(1)) it applies to both Muslims and non-Muslims unless expressly stated otherwise, and it includes hudud and qisas categories of offences. The sale of alcohol is banned throughout the country (Excise Order, 2006, s. 73).
Nepal in brief
Nepal is a South Asian country outside the EU and outside the Gulf, with a narrow system of long-stay visas: the work visa is issued under the general “non-tourist visa” category and requires a separate permit from the Government of Nepal for paid employment (via the Department of Labour), issued for no more than 1 year at a time; the business visa for investors — up to 5 years; the Non-Resident Nepali (NRN) visa — up to 10 years, but available only to people of Nepali origin or citizens of Nepal who have long lived abroad; the residential visa for investors of USD 100,000 or more, or for persons of international standing, is issued by the Department of Immigration for the first year and then renewed annually, without automatically becoming a permanent status — Nepali law has no permanent residence permit in the European sense. Naturalisation to Nepali citizenship is available in practice almost exclusively to persons with a special contribution to the country's development, requires 15 years of residence, knowledge of Nepali or another language used in Nepal, and renunciation of prior citizenship; dual citizenship is not permitted in any form. An expedited route to citizenship through marriage exists only for foreign wives of Nepali citizens, not for foreign husbands of Nepali female citizens. Seismic hazard here is not a technical detail but a systemic fact: the country lies in the collision zone of the Indian and Eurasian plates, INFORM rates the earthquake component at 9.8 out of 10, and the 25 April 2015 Gorkha earthquake (M7.8) claimed almost 9,000 lives and damaged a significant part of the historic building stock of the Kathmandu Valley. At the same time, the country holds several UNESCO World Heritage sites (the Kathmandu Valley, Lumbini — the birthplace of Buddha, Chitwan National Park), and the cost of rent and living is lower than the regional average.
Other comparisons
Brunei or… Taiwan · South Korea · Japan · Thailand · Kazakhstan · Lebanon · Uzbekistan · Malaysia
Nepal or… Azerbaijan · Philippines · Bangladesh · Kuwait · Iraq · Mongolia · Oman · People's Republic of China
More on each: Brunei · Nepal. Build your own comparison — up to four countries
This material is for reference and is not legal, tax or immigration advice. Visa rules, tax thresholds and prices change. Before deciding anything, check the official sources and consult a licensed professional in the relevant country.