6.3 Education, Medical, Travel & Family Maintenance

Current chapter map — do not study from an old numbering rumour

SBP's Foreign Exchange Manual hub currently lists:

• Chapter 16 — Private Remittances
• Chapter 17 — Travel

Chapter 2 of the Manual points ADs to Chapter 17 for Pakistani individuals' education, medical treatment, travel and training. Older oral teaching sometimes called all of that “Chapter 16.” For this NIBAF sitting, open the PDFs: Chapter 16 (private remittances) and Chapter 17 (travel, which includes education and medical). EPD Circular Letter No. 09 of 2025 (11 September 2025) folded circular amendments into Chapters 10, 12, 13, 14, 19 and 20. It did not list Chapters 16 or 17. EPD Circular Letter No. 10 of 2025 (14 November 2025) tells Exchange Companies that FCY sales to resident Pakistanis for deposit into an FCY account must be account-to-account; it does not reprint Chapter 17's AD travel table.

This OpenExamPrep section is independent study material. It is not SBP-BSC or NIBAF guidance.

Education abroad — Chapter 17 Para 38

ADs may remit up to USD 70,000 or equivalent per student per calendar year for study at accredited and recognized foreign institutions, covering application/processing charges, tuition, living expenses and other dues.

Application / processing charges

If the foreign institution demands an application or processing fee before admission, the AD may remit it to that institution against documentary evidence of the amount. The Manual currently states no restriction on the number of institutions a student may apply to.

Tuition, living, other dues — after admission

Documents currently listed:

• Appendix V-82 completed by the student / parent / guardian
• copies of the student's CNIC or Form B and the parent/guardian's CNIC
• copy of the student's passport
• letter of admission
• letter or cost sheet from the institution showing the break-up of expenses

Who receives the wire:

• Amounts payable to the institution (tuition, health, insurance, union, sports, library and similar dues) go directly to the institution's account by SWIFT, telegraphic transfer or demand draft — not to the student.
• Living or miscellaneous expenses as indicated by the institution, if not being remitted to the institution, may be sent to the student by SWIFT/TT/DD.
• Initial cash equivalent to USD 5,000 may be released to the student for boarding/lodging start-up and must be endorsed on the passport.

Amounts above USD 70,000 in a calendar year go from the AD to the Director, FEOD, SBP-BSC, Head Office, Karachi, with justification and documents. The AD keeps the file for SBP inspection. EPD Circular Letter No. 14 of 2018 still sits in the chapter as the customer-service overlay: display the education FX service in every authorized branch, keep major-currency cash stock, publish branch lists on the website, train staff.

Correspondence courses and exam fees paid to foreign professional bodies for sittings in Pakistan are Chapter 16 Paras 17–18 (Form M, Appendix V-65, demand note) — not the USD 70,000 overseas-study envelope.

Medical treatment abroad — Chapter 17 Para 23

ADs may remit up to USD 50,000 or equivalent for resident Pakistanis' medical treatment after satisfying themselves of bona fides. The remittance goes directly to the reputable foreign hospital's account by SWIFT, TT or DD against:

• Appendix V-72 completed by the patient, next of kin or sponsor
• invoice or estimate of the foreign hospital
• a self-declaration of the FX essentially required

In addition, the AD may release cash FX equivalent to USD 5,000 to the patient and USD 5,000 to one attendant, each amount endorsed on the relevant passport(s).

Above those published figures, the AD forwards the case to the Director, FEOD, SBP-BSC with justification and documents. The same 2018 customer-service overlay (display, cash stock, website list, trained staff) applies. The AD does not invent a higher hospital cap at the counter.

Private travel exchange — Chapter 17 Paras 16–19, 42–44; Form T-1

Form T-1 (Appendix V-68) is still the form on which ADs release travel FX under Chapter 17. SBP-BSC still receives Form P / P-2 for passage cases that need prior approval.

Para 16 currently prints a Private Travel Exchange Quota (PTEQ) of USD 50 per day per person, maximum USD 2,100 per calendar year, for Pakistan nationals resident in Pakistan travelling to countries other than Bangladesh and Afghanistan, on passport, CNIC, ticket and T-1, with visa if travelling by land. Children under 2 years: 10 percent of PTEQ; ages 2 to under 12: 50 percent. The AD records releases on the passport (date, month, year), checks that the last journey for which PTEQ was drawn was actually undertaken, and does not sell FX against a ticket whose departure is later than two weeks from the sale date (land-route exception: passport only). No FX for travel to Afghanistan under this AD general permission. Bangladesh (Para 17): USD 100 per head per visit (USD 50 if 12 or under). Para 19: unspent PTEQ surrendered to an AD may be re-issued for later travel within the approved limits. Para 37: ADs must not combine two exchange facilities at one time.

Para 43 currently still restricts PTEQ notes to USD 100, with the balance in travellers cheques branded for encashment outside Pakistan. Those are the printed Chapter 17 figures. This section does not replace them with a remembered unofficial “travel quota.” If a later 2026 circular you open on exam day has rewritten Para 16, that circular wins; none of the 2025–2026 EPD letters opened for this chapter rewrote Chapter 17's PTEQ table.

Exchange Companies are a different channel. SBP's Exchange Company FAQs still discuss USD 100,000 per person per year and USD 10,000 per person per day as aggregate EC purchase limits, in addition to bank education and medical facilities. Do not fold those EC numbers into Form T-1 as if they were Chapter 17 PTEQ.

Form R remains, under Chapter 22 as revised by EPD Circular Letter No. 07 of 2026 (6 April 2026), the declaration ADs use for inward remittances exceeding USD 25,000 for purposes other than exports and family maintenance. It is not the travel application. An AD who asks a departing student to “fill Form R instead of T-1 / Appendix V-82” has grabbed the wrong form.

Para 24 still prints USD 50 incidental FX (distinct from PTEQ) for listed traveller categories. Para 27 still prints business travel at USD 300 per day, maximum USD 9,000 (other than India/Afghanistan) on Form T-2 / blanket permission — that is commercial travel, not the family holiday PTEQ.

Family maintenance — two different populations

Foreign nationals working in Pakistan — Chapter 16 Paras 4–7

Eligible foreign nationals resident in Pakistan with Pakistan income may remit to their country of domicile the difference between net income and estimated Pakistan expenses declared on the prescribed form, for family maintenance, insurance premia, children's education, legal charges, mortgage, loan interest and similar commitments. Not available to Indian and Afghan nationals or foreign-born wives of Pakistan nationals.

ADs may issue yearly, non-cumulative permits on Appendix V-63 (duplicate) without SBP prior approval if the applicant is not self-employed, not Merchant Navy, and not of Indo-Pak origin, and if:

• the applicant holds a work permit/visa or is employed in a hospital or educational/charitable institution, or produces a government/semi-government employment letter
• the pay cheque is credited directly by the employer to the applicant's individual account at that AD

ADs may remit up to two months' accumulation; more than two months needs SBP prior approval. Net income excludes the monetary value of free house, transport, servants and boarding, and excludes cash house-rent, conveyance and entertainment allowances. Bonus or commission enters the entitlement only after it is actually paid, then spread over the next twelve months. After the last remittance of the year, the original declaration goes to SBP-BSC. Self-employed foreign nationals, Merchant Navy staff, and persons of Indo-Pak origin holding foreign passports go to SBP-BSC, not to an AD-issued permit. Chapter 16 Para 10: travellers cheques may be issued against the same month's entitlement on production of tickets showing departure within two weeks.

Pakistani families abroad temporarily — Chapter 17 Para 46

This is not the foreign-national permit. SBP considers requests for living expenses of families of Pakistani nationals living abroad temporarily for genuine personal reasons not covered by medical Para 23 or education Para 38, against:

1. an application from the Pakistan-resident national stating purpose, reason for continued stay and probable period
2. a certificate from the Pakistan Embassy / High Commission confirming reason, expected period, family size, monthly amount needed, and that the persons hold Pakistani passports

Para 46 does not print a leftover dollar quota. Do not invent one. The file goes through the AD to SBP-BSC with those documents.

Chapter 16 Para 19 is the residual other private remittances gate (Form M, certified bona fides, nationality and residence spelled out) for purposes not listed in Chapter 16.

Pakistani AD scenarios

Scenario A — tuition versus living. A student admitted to a Canadian university has a cost sheet: CAD tuition payable to the registrar and a listed living estimate. The AD wires tuition to the university and may wire the institution-stated living amount to the student, staying inside USD 70,000 for the calendar year including prior application fees. Cash USD 5,000 is endorsed on the passport. The AD does not hand the tuition draft to the uncle in Mississauga.

Scenario B — hospital estimate. A resident's Dubai hospital estimate is USD 42,000. Appendix V-72, estimate, and self-declaration are on file. The AD remits to the hospital, releases USD 5,000 cash to the patient and USD 5,000 to one attendant, and endorses both passports. A USD 80,000 estimate is a FEOD file, not a second unauthorized USD 50,000.

Scenario C — Form mix-up. A customer going to Türkiye for tourism brings a Form R. Form R is for inward receipts above USD 25,000 (other than exports and family maintenance). Travel FX is Form T-1 plus passport, CNIC and ticket. The AD does not “convert” Form R into PTEQ.

Scenario D — foreign engineer in Lahore. A German engineer on a work visa has salary credited to an individual PKR account at the AD. The AD issues an Appendix V-63 yearly permit for the gap between net salary and declared Pakistan expenses. Two months may accumulate; a six-month lump needs SBP. An Afghan colleague is outside this facility.

Scenario E — Pakistani spouse abroad. A resident wants to maintain a spouse in the UK who is not a student and not a medical patient. That is Chapter 17 Para 46, embassy certificate required, no published USD quota in that para. It is not Chapter 16's foreign-national permit and not PTEQ.

Traps

• Teaching education/medical as if they were still “only Chapter 16” after the current contents page put them in Chapter 17
• Wiring tuition to the student instead of to the institution
• Inventing a leftover travel-quota number that is not in the Chapter 17 PDF or a later circular you opened
• Using Form R for outward travel or tuition
• Adding bonus into a foreign national's monthly permit before the employer has paid it
• Treating EC USD 100,000 / USD 10,000 limits as if they replaced Form T-1 PTEQ
• Inventing a dollar cap for Para 46 Pakistani family maintenance