How to send money from the US to Pakistan: costs, Raast and wallet payouts

Pakistan's central bank has built much of its remittance policy around keeping incoming transfers cheap. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) runs Raast, a free instant payment system, and requires Pakistani banks to deliver qualifying transfers without charging the sender or the recipient, so most of the price is set by the US provider you choose. This guide covers what the corridor costs, how the rupees can arrive, the details to collect and the rules at both ends. For choosing a provider in general, start with how to send money internationally.

What does it cost to send dollars to Pakistan?

Sending $200 cost 3.81% on average in the World Bank's Q3 2025 survey, and $500 cost 2.94%, with an exchange-rate margin of about 1.6% at both amounts.

Those averages blend every service the World Bank priced between August 8 and 27, 2025, and the spread around them was unusually wide. On $200, the cheapest service cost 0.45% in total and the most expensive 13.67%, roughly 30 times as much, and at least one service paid a rate slightly better than the World Bank's benchmark. The provider you pick matters far more than the average.

The average fee of $4.32 on $200 also shows the limits of Pakistan's free-transfer rule. That rule binds the Pakistani institutions that pay the money out, not the US company that takes your dollars, so a sending fee can still appear on a transfer that is free at the Pakistani end.

The other cost sits in the rupee rate. A provider that converts below the mid-market rate keeps the gap, and our guide to exchange-rate markups shows how to turn a quoted rate into a percentage. This table converts sample amounts at the current mid-market rate and at two markups.

To price a quote of your own, enter its fee and rate in the money transfer cost calculator.

Which payout should your recipient choose in Pakistan?

For anyone with a Pakistani bank account, a deposit over Raast is usually the best option, because it is free on the Pakistani side and lands in seconds.

Raast belongs to the SBP. It began with bulk payments in January 2021 and opened to person-to-person transfers in 2022, and the SBP's directions require receiving banks to credit a Raast payment within 20 seconds. A recipient can be paid to their IBAN or to a Raast ID, which is a mobile number linked to a single account. Since January 15, 2026, Pakistani exchange companies with SBP approval may also push remittances into bank accounts and wallets over Raast rather than paying them out in cash. Whether your transfer travels over Raast depends on the paying bank, so ask the provider how the rupees will be credited.

Mobile wallets suit relatives without a bank account or far from a branch. Easypaisa and JazzCash wallets can both receive remittances through partner transfer services, but the wallet's level sets the ceiling. Under the SBP's branchless banking regulations, a basic Level 0 wallet takes in at most PKR 25,000 a day, PKR 50,000 a month and PKR 200,000 a year, and it cannot cash out until the holder passes biometric verification with NADRA, the national identity database. A single $1,000 transfer converts to more than PKR 270,000, beyond a Level 0 wallet's yearly limit. A verified Level 1 wallet allows more, and the same rules created a home remittances account with no daily cap on incoming remittances, a PKR 1.5 million balance limit and up to PKR 500,000 of cash withdrawals a month. For how wallets work in general, see mobile money explained.

Cash pickup remains available for relatives who want notes in hand. The recipient visits a bank branch, an exchange company or a wallet agent with their original CNIC, the computerized national identity card, and the transfer reference. Share that reference only with your recipient, because anyone who holds it and can pass for them is a risk.

Recipient details for a transfer to Pakistan

A Pakistani IBAN is always 24 characters long and starts with PK, so a number of any other length has been copied wrongly.

Names trip up more transfers than numbers do. Enter the name exactly as it appears on the CNIC or the bank record; a shortened or anglicized spelling, such as Mohd for Muhammad, can stop a cash payout until someone corrects it. The IBAN's check digits catch most typing errors before money moves, which is one reason a bank payout is safer than a wallet: a mistyped mobile number may belong to someone else, and Raast payments are final once credited. Our guide to the IBAN format explains how check digits work.

Are transfers to Pakistan free under the Pakistan Remittance Initiative?

Mostly yes on the Pakistani side: SBP requires banks to keep qualifying remittances of USD 200 or more free for sender and recipient.

The Pakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI), run by the SBP with the federal government, has pushed remittances into formal channels since 2009. Its main tool was a scheme that reimbursed banks for telegraphic transfer charges so they could waive fees. From July 1, 2025, only transfers of USD 200 or more qualified, the rebate became a flat SAR 20 per transaction and exchange companies joined the scheme.

The SBP ended that reimbursement on July 1, 2026, and closed the Sohni Dharti Remittance Programme, a loyalty scheme that rewarded senders with points, from the same date. It did not end free transfers. Its circular tells banks to keep running the scheme's key features at their own expense, so transactions that meet the old criteria must still arrive free of charge for senders and beneficiaries.

Two habits follow. Send USD 200 or more at a time, because smaller transfers fall outside the rule and the paying bank may charge for them. And keep comparing US providers, because the rule covers only the Pakistani end; the sending company's fee and exchange rate remain the main variables, and the cheapest way to send money abroad sets out how to weigh them.

Roshan Digital Accounts for Pakistanis living in the US

A Roshan Digital Account (RDA) lets a non-resident Pakistani open a Pakistani bank account online, without visiting a branch. The SBP launched the accounts in September 2020 for non-resident Pakistanis and holders of a Pakistan Origin Card, and by the end of September 2026 there were 975,602 of them, which had brought in $14.16 billion since launch. Of that, $8.94 billion had been used inside Pakistan and $2.15 billion sent back abroad.

An RDA can be held in foreign currency or in rupees, and the balance stays repatriable. Instead of sending small amounts to relatives one by one, you can move dollars into your own account in Pakistan and pay family locally in rupees when they need it. The accounts also give access to Naya Pakistan Certificates, government savings certificates sold in dollars and in rupees, and to financing schemes for buying a home or a car.

US rules follow the account. An RDA is a foreign financial account, so it counts toward the FBAR filing trigger: More than $10,000 in total across foreign financial accounts at any time in the year (IRS, as of Nov 1, 2026). Interest it earns, including on Naya Pakistan Certificates, also belongs on your US tax return like any other income. FBAR explained covers the filing.

What US rules apply when you send to Pakistan?

Three federal rules cover most sends to Pakistan: a 1% tax on cash-funded transfers, disclosure and cancellation rights, and gift reporting on large amounts.

The tax applies to transfers made after December 31, 2025, and it is 1% of the amount sent, on transfers paid with cash, a money order, a cashier's check or a similar physical instrument (IRS, as of Nov 1, 2026). Your provider collects it when you pay, and the Treasury's regulations were still in proposed form in November 2026. What escapes it: Transfers funded from a bank or other financial-institution account, or with a US-issued debit or credit card. Funding from your bank account or a US debit card therefore costs nothing extra, and the remittance transfer tax guide covers the edge cases.

A US provider must show the rate, fees, taxes and rupee amount before you pay, and a remittance can be cancelled for 30 minutes after paying, for a full refund (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as of Nov 1, 2026), unless the money has already been collected or deposited; remittance transfer rights explains error claims.

Money you give relatives in Pakistan is a gift for US tax purposes. Above $19,000 per recipient (IRS, as of Nov 1, 2026) in 2026 you file Form 709, though tax is due only once lifetime gifts pass a very large exemption. See gift tax on money sent abroad.

How Pakistan treats remittances when they arrive

Pakistan's tax law gives banked remittances a specific shield. Under section 111(4) of the Income Tax Ordinance, foreign exchange remitted through normal banking channels, up to PKR 5 million in a tax year, cannot be treated as unexplained income if a scheduled bank converted it to rupees and certifies that. An explanation in the law confirms that money service bureaus, exchange companies and money transfer operators all count as normal banking channels.

For your recipient, that makes the bank's certificate, often called a proceeds realization certificate, worth keeping, especially when the money pays for property or a business. Transfers through informal hawala dealers get no such cover, and they fall outside the free-transfer rule too.

When do remittances to Pakistan peak, and when are banks closed?

Remittances spike ahead of the two Eids, and in FY26 the strongest month was May 2026, the month of Eid al-Adha, at $4.25 billion.

In 2026, Pakistan celebrated Eid al-Fitr on March 21 and Eid al-Adha on May 27. Astronomers expect Ramadan 2027 to begin around February 8, Eid al-Fitr to fall around March 10 and Eid al-Adha around May 16 or 17, but the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee fixes Pakistan's dates by moon sighting, sometimes a day after the Gulf states, as with Eid al-Fitr in 2026.

Send at least a few days before the occasion you are paying for. Raast runs around the clock, but wires and cash counters follow Pakistan's banking days, and banks also close to the public on some dates that aren't national holidays, such as July 1 for the annual closing of accounts and the first day of Ramadan, when zakat is deducted from savings accounts. Our guide to transfer times explains where the hours usually go on slower routes.

How much do Pakistanis in the US send home?

US senders delivered $3.62 billion of the $41.6 billion in workers' remittances Pakistan received in FY26, the year to June 2026, making the US the fourth-largest single source country.

Only Saudi Arabia ($9.78 billion), the UAE ($8.81 billion) and the UK ($6.33 billion) sent more, and the US total was the only major corridor to shrink, by 2.6%. The new fiscal year started differently: from July to September 2026, inflows from the US rose 15.5% to $931 million, against 14% growth overall. The UAE to Pakistan guide covers the second-largest corridor, and the US to Bangladesh guide covers the neighbor shown alongside Pakistan in this table.

The World Bank counts calendar years and a slightly broader definition of remittances, so its figure won't match the SBP's fiscal-year total exactly.

Scams and mistakes to avoid on the Pakistan route

The costliest errors on this corridor are hard to undo. Raast payments are final and irrevocable under SBP rules, so a wrong Raast ID or IBAN can send rupees to a stranger with no automatic way back. Check the account holder's name if your provider shows it before you confirm.

Be wary of anyone who contacts your relatives claiming to be from a bank, a wallet company or a government program and asking for a wallet PIN or one-time code. No legitimate service needs them to release a remittance. The same goes for callers in the US who say a transfer is stuck and needs a fee to clear.

Informal hawala and hundi dealers advertise better rates, but they work outside both countries' rules. You get no federal disclosure, no cancellation right, no free-transfer protection and no section 111(4) shield, and if the dealer disappears there is no regulator to complain to. Our guide to money transfer scams covers the wider patterns.