Eligibility Requirements

Candidates must be policymakers, managers, or administrators in leadership positions with a commitment to public service from the public or private sectors including non-governmental organizations. Fellowships are competitive and will be awarded on the basis of excellence in professional and personal qualifications as well as leadership potential. 

All applicants must:

• Possess Nepali citizenship 
• Be employed at a mid-career, policy level with progressively more responsible working experience in the government, NGO or private sector 
• Have at least 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in Nepal as of the application submission deadline. Volunteer jobs, internships, and work done as a requirement for an academic degree shall not be counted towards the required duration of work experience; 
• The professional experience should be in the relevant field, after the completion of a university degree, i.e. a 4-year bachelor’s degree, or, if the bachelor’s degree is of 2-year/3-year duration, then a master’s degree is also required. Candidates who have two or more 2-year/3-year bachelor’s degrees in different fields, but who do not have a master’s degree, are not eligible to apply. 
• Be proficient in speaking, reading and writing English (see the Supplemental English Program) 
• Have a demonstrable commitment to public service and potential for national leadership 
• Have a wish to develop problem-solving capacities, enhance capabilities to assume greater career responsibilities, and return to a significant public service role upon completion of the Humphrey Program 

The Humphrey competition is not open to: 

• Recent university graduates (even if they have significant positions)
• University teachers with no management or policy responsibilities, except for teachers of English as a foreign language, and specialists in substance abuse prevention and treatment
• Individuals who have spent substantial time in the U.S. (more than 3 years) and have not been back in Nepal and employed at a level of professional responsibility for at least four years since returning
• Individuals who have attended a graduate school in the U.S. for one academic year or more during the seven years prior to August 2025
• Individuals with more than six months of U.S. experience during the five years prior to August 2025
• Individuals who have participated in U.S. government- sponsored exchange programs within the last three years prior to August 2025
• Individuals with, or in the process of obtaining, dual U.S. citizenship or U.S. permanent resident status are ineligible for a J visa
• Local employees of the U.S. Mission in Nepal who work for the Department of State or the U.S. Agency for International Development, including temporary employees and contractors, and their spouses and dependent children (they are not eligible for grants during the period of their employment and for one year following the termination of employment).

Visa Sponsorship 

All selected Humphrey Fellows receive an exchange visitor (J-1) visa which requires that they return to Nepal upon completion of their fellowship. They are not eligible for an immigrant visa, for permanent residence, or for a non-immigrant visa as a temporary worker (“H” visa) or trainee, nor as an intra-company transferee (“L” visa), to re-enter the U.S. until they have accumulated two years’ residence in Nepal after returning from the U.S. on an exchange visitor visa. This does not preclude the individual from going to the U.S. on other visas during the two-year period.