On 11 March 2022, more than 2,000 service seekers were present at the Department of Passports in Tripureshwar, Kathmandu, during a visit lasting only from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. They were divided among physical queues for form submission, photographs, renewal, replacement of lost passports, and collection of new documents. Dhan Kumari Sarki, who had travelled from Salyan, had returned and queued for three consecutive days just to have her photograph taken.
The office could issue about 1,000 passports a day but was handling roughly 5,000 applications. The transition to e-passports, relocation of the department, and renewed demand for overseas work and study combined to swell the separate lines. Digitisation did not automatically remove waiting. Behind the electronic document, applicants still had to decide physically which queue to join and when to return.