Under paragraph 39 of Chapter XVII of Pakistan's Foreign Exchange Manual, replaced by FE Circular No. 08 of 2015, authorised dealers may remit up to USD 70,000 per student per calendar year. Dues payable to the institution go directly to its account, not to the student; living expenses may be sent to the student.
If you are studying in Australia and your family in Pakistan is paying, the money leaves the country in three streams under one rule, and the largest of them never reaches you. Pakistan's Foreign Exchange Manual directs that anything payable to the university be sent to the university, not to the student. It allows living expenses to be sent to the student, and a small cash release for initial expenses to be handed to the student before travel. The remittances sit under a ceiling of USD 70,000 per student per calendar year.
Key Takeaways
- Paragraph 39 of Chapter XVII of the State Bank of Pakistan's Foreign Exchange Manual, as replaced by FE Circular No. 08 of 2015, governs remittances for studies abroad.
- Authorised dealers may remit up to USD 70,000, or the equivalent in other currencies, per student per calendar year, covering application charges, tuition and living expenses.
- The circular directs that dues payable to the foreign educational institution, tuition included, be remitted directly to the institution's account and not released to the student.
- Living or miscellaneous expenses indicated by the institution may be sent to the student, and up to USD 5,000 may be released as cash for initial expenses related to boarding and lodging or other requirements, endorsed on the passport.
- A requirement above the ceiling is forwarded to the State Bank's Foreign Exchange Operations Department with justification and documents.
One rule, two recipients
Pakistan manages what foreign exchange leaves the country. The statute underneath is the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947. Its section 5(1) provides that no person in or resident in Pakistan shall make any payment to or for the credit of any person resident outside Pakistan. The exception is a general or special exemption granted by the State Bank. Its section 3 lets the State Bank authorise a person to deal in foreign exchange. Those authorised persons are the authorised dealers, and the Foreign Exchange Manual is where the State Bank sets out what they may do.
The rules on travel, medical treatment and study abroad sit in Chapter XVII of the State Bank of Pakistan's Foreign Exchange Manual. On 30 June 2015 the Bank issued FE Circular No. 08, addressed to the head and principal offices of all authorised dealers in foreign exchange. It replaced two paragraphs of that chapter: paragraph 24 on medical treatment abroad and paragraph 39 on studies abroad. The circular gives its purpose as being to facilitate resident Pakistanis to meet their individual foreign exchange needs related to medical treatment and studies abroad. The replaced paragraph 39 is the one that governs a student in Australia.
Its opening sentence sets the scope and the ceiling together. In the circular's words, "Authorized Dealers may remit foreign exchange to educational institutions abroad on behalf of students desirous of studying in accredited and recognized foreign institutions/universities upto US$ 70,000/- or equivalent in other foreign currencies per student per calendar year on account of application/processing charges, tuition fee, living expenses etc. in accordance with the procedure set out below".
Notice who the remittance is to. The paragraph is written as a permission to remit to educational institutions on behalf of students. The student benefits from the money but, for the fees, does not receive it.
| Stream | Goes to | Route | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| dues payable to the institution, tuition included | the institution's account | SWIFT, telegraphic transfer or demand draft | the institution's letter or cost sheet |
| living or miscellaneous expenses not remitted to the institution | the student | SWIFT, telegraphic transfer or demand draft | the amount the institution indicates |
| initial expenses for boarding and lodging | the student, in cash | released by the authorised dealer, endorsed on the passport | equivalent to USD 5,000 |
Fees go to the university
The procedure divides the money by who it is owed to. Under the heading on remittances to the foreign educational institution or the student, the circular states: "Dues, including Tuition Fee, which are payable to the foreign educational institution should be remitted directly to the account of the educational institution via SWIFT, telegraphic transfer or demand draft and not remitted/released to the student."
That is why an Australian university's invoice is settled from Karachi or Lahore without the student in Australia seeing the money pass through their own account. The Pakistani bank pays the institution's account, in the institution's name, on the institution's own letter. From the student's side the fee is paid, and the transfer is one the university, not the student, receives. The mechanics of how a payment like that finds an Australian account are set out in how international transfers work.
The same direction reaches other dues. The circular's list of what an authorised dealer may remit on a student's behalf covers "tuition fee, living expenses and other dues (health, insurance, union, sports, library fees etc.)". The direct-to-institution direction applies to whatever is payable to the institution. An amount the university bills, of any of those kinds, follows the fee route.
Living money comes to you
The second stream is different. The circular continues: "Living or miscellaneous expenses as indicated by the respective foreign institution/ university, if not being remitted to the institution, can, however, be sent to the student himself via SWIFT, telegraphic transfer or demand draft."
Two conditions are built into that sentence. The amount is the one the institution indicates, the living-cost figure on the admission letter or cost sheet rather than a number the family chooses. And it can go to the student only if it is not being remitted to the institution, so where a university collects accommodation or a living allowance itself, that portion joins the fee stream.
What a student in Australia receives, then, is the living component, in the currency the Pakistani bank converts to, arriving as an ordinary inbound transfer. The PKR to AUD rate page shows what a rupee figure is worth at the mid-market rate on a given day, and the difference between that and what lands is the subject of understanding transfer fees.
There is one cash allowance, and it is the only part of the facility paid in cash. To meet the initial expenses related to boarding and lodging or other requirements of the student, an authorised dealer may release cash foreign exchange equivalent to USD 5,000 to the student, endorsed on his or her passport. It is a release under the Foreign Exchange Manual rather than a remittance, and it sits outside the SWIFT route. It is a different instrument from the customs limit on carrying currency out, which this guide does not cover.
The five documents, and the application fee that comes first
The bank in Pakistan does not remit on request. The circular lists what it needs:
- the application form at revised Appendix V-78, completed by the student, parent or guardian
- copies of the student's Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) or Form B, and the parent or guardian's CNIC
- a copy of the student's passport
- the letter of admission from the foreign educational institution
- a letter or cost sheet from the institution showing the break-up of expenses
The last document matters most. This letter gives the bank the fee figure and the living figure, so it can send each to the right recipient.
Before any of that, there is the application stage. Where a student is required to remit application or processing charges for admission, the circular allows the bank to make those remittances to the institution on documentary evidence of the amount. It adds that there is no restriction on the number of institutions to which a student can apply for admission.
Above the ceiling, and who holds the record
USD 70,000 per student per calendar year is a limit on what the authorised dealer may do on its own authority. The circular provides that where the requirements for studies abroad exceed that limit, the authorised dealer will forward the case to the Director, Foreign Exchange Operations Department, the State Bank's Banking Services Corporation (SBP-BSC), Head Office, Karachi. The case goes with justification and documentary evidence, for consideration. A programme whose fees and living costs together exceed the ceiling is therefore not refused at the bank. It is referred, and the decision is the State Bank's.
The record stays in Pakistan. Authorised dealers are directed to retain all related documents submitted by the applicant for on-site inspection by the State Bank's inspection team. They are advised to ensure strict compliance with the instructions. The paperwork a family assembles for the bank is kept for the regulator.
Where to look next
- Receiving money from Pakistan - the live rate page for this corridor.
- Sending money to Pakistan from Australia - the opposite direction, where the same Manual sorts an inbound transfer by its purpose.
- What a country can do about cash that has left - the rupee's own story, on the rules for its banknotes abroad.
- How international transfers work - the sequence a payment moves through once the Pakistani bank releases it.
- AUD to PKR - the convert page for the pair on its own.
Sources
- FE Circular No. 08 of 2015, Remittances for Medical Treatment and Studies Abroad, State Bank of Pakistan, 30 June 2015 - the addressee, the stated purpose, the replacement of paragraphs 24 and 39 of Chapter XVII of the Foreign Exchange Manual, the USD 70,000 per student per calendar year ceiling, the direct-to-institution direction for dues including tuition fee, the living-expenses route to the student, the list of other dues, the USD 5,000 cash release endorsed on the passport, the five documents at revised Appendix V-78, the application-charge stage, referral of excess cases to the Foreign Exchange Operations Department at SBP-BSC Karachi, and the record-retention direction.
- Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947, Act No. VII of 1947, Government of Pakistan copy on the Pakistan Trade Portal - section 3, under which the State Bank may authorise any person to deal in foreign exchange, and section 5(1)(a), under which, save under a general or special exemption granted by the State Bank, no person in or resident in Pakistan shall make any payment to or for the credit of any person resident outside Pakistan.
- Foreign Exchange Manual, table of contents, State Bank of Pakistan - the Manual's chapter list, placing Chapter 17 under the subject Travel and Chapter 16 under Private Remittances; the chapter's own text was not opened for this guide, and nothing here rests on it.
General information about Pakistan's foreign exchange rules on remittances for studies abroad, as they affect a student receiving money in Australia. Not financial advice, and not a recommendation of any product or institution. Reviewed by the Tradergy editorial team, September 2026.
Common questions
Why did the university receive my fees directly instead of me?
Because the State Bank of Pakistan's rules direct it. FE Circular No. 08 of 2015, which replaced paragraph 39 of Chapter XVII of the Foreign Exchange Manual, states that dues, including tuition fee, which are payable to the foreign educational institution should be remitted directly to the account of the educational institution via SWIFT, telegraphic transfer or demand draft and not remitted or released to the student.
Can living expenses be sent to me in Australia?
Yes. The same circular states that living or miscellaneous expenses as indicated by the foreign institution, if not being remitted to the institution, can be sent to the student via SWIFT, telegraphic transfer or demand draft. The figure the bank works from is the one on the institution's letter or cost sheet.
How much can be sent in a year?
The circular permits authorised dealers to remit up to USD 70,000, or equivalent in other foreign currencies, per student per calendar year on account of application or processing charges, tuition fee, living expenses and the like. A case above that limit is forwarded by the bank to the Director of the Foreign Exchange Operations Department at SBP-BSC in Karachi with justification and documentary evidence.
What documents does the bank in Pakistan need?
Five, listed in the circular: the application form at revised Appendix V-78 completed by the student, parent or guardian; copies of the student's CNIC or Form B and the parent or guardian's CNIC; a copy of the student's passport; the letter of admission from the foreign educational institution; and a letter or cost sheet from the institution showing the break-up of expenses.
Is there any cash allowance for arrival?
The circular allows authorised dealers to release cash foreign exchange equivalent to USD 5,000 to the student for initial expenses related to boarding and lodging or other requirements, endorsed on the student's passport. That is separate from the remittances, and is the only part of the facility handed over as cash.