Cheapest way to send money to Pakistan from the UK, US and UAE

The cheapest way to send money to Pakistan is whichever provider delivers the most rupees after its fee and its exchange-rate margin, and that changes by country, amount and payment method. In the World Bank’s latest surveys, sending about USD 200 cost 1.62% on average from the UK (Q4 2024), 2.17% from the UAE (Q3 2025) and 3.81% from the US (Q3 2025). The lowest quotes in each survey were under 1%, so compare two or three live quotes before you send.

What is the cheapest way to send money to Pakistan?

No one provider is cheapest everywhere. The same brand can be among the cheapest in one country and expensive in another, or cheap online and costly at an agent. The World Bank’s surveys show the averages below; each country was surveyed in a different quarter.

Two things hold in all three surveys. Larger transfers cost less as a percentage, and the gap between the cheapest and dearest quote was wide: in the US, from 0.45% to 13.67% on USD 200.

We couldn’t open the World Bank’s live site, so these figures come from archived copies. Newer quarters may exist.

How do I compare fees and exchange rates?

The World Bank defines the total cost as the fee you pay plus the exchange-rate margin. The margin is the gap, in percent, between the market reference rate and the rate the provider gives you.

A worked example from the World Bank’s Q3 2025 US survey: the average fee on USD 200 was USD 4.32, and the average margin of 1.65% added about USD 3.29, for USD 7.61 in total, or 3.81%.

Zero-fee services were not always the cheapest in that survey. Xoom charged no fee but had a margin of 2.01% to 4.01%, which is about USD 4.02 to USD 8.02 on USD 200. Wise charged a USD 2.84 fee with a 0.14% margin, for 1.56% in total, or about USD 3.12.

How much does it cost to send money to Pakistan from the UK?

In the World Bank’s Q4 2024 survey, the newest we could read for the UK, the average cost of sending the GBP equivalent of USD 200 was 1.62%, down from 1.92% in Q3 2024. For about USD 500 it was 1.06%. Money transfer operators averaged 1.70%; the one bank surveyed, UBL, averaged 0.33%.

A negative cost means the rate given was better than the World Bank’s reference rate on the survey day. This data is about two years old, so treat it as a guide to how prices vary, not as today’s prices.

How much does it cost to send money to Pakistan from the USA?

In the World Bank’s Q3 2025 survey, the average cost of sending USD 200 from the US was 3.81%, and 2.94% for USD 500. That is the highest average of the three countries here, though the UK figure is from an earlier quarter.

The four cheapest quotes were online services, and the agent quote was the dearest. Western Union appears at both ends, which shows why the channel matters as much as the brand.

What is the best way to send money to Pakistan from the UAE or Dubai?

In the World Bank’s Q3 2025 survey, the average cost of sending the AED equivalent of USD 200 from the UAE was 2.17%, and 1.53% for the USD 500 equivalent. Several exchange houses charged no fee and a margin under 1%.

A low margin doesn’t help much if the fee is high. Wise’s margin was 0.14%, but its AED 36.60 to 39.34 fee pushed the total above 5% on this small amount.

How much does Wise charge to send money to Pakistan?

Wise uses the mid-market rate with no margin, but its fee depends on the currency and how you pay. These are its public quotes for 300 units of each currency to a Pakistani bank account on 15 Oct 2026.

The World Bank’s Q3 2025 US survey listed Wise at a USD 2.84 fee, but Wise’s own USD 300 bank-transfer quote on 15 Oct 2026 was USD 8.92. Check the live quote for the payment method you will actually use. For receiving Wise payments in Pakistan, see using Wise in Pakistan.

Is sending money to Pakistan still free?

Possibly, for eligible transfers, but the rules after July 2026 are unclear. From 1 July 2026, SBP ended the Telegraphic Transfer Charges Incentive Scheme (TTCIS), under which it paid banks’ T.T. charges on eligible remittances, and the Sohni Dharti Remittance Programme (SDRP), as Khaleej Times and Gulf News reported. Dawn reported that SBP abolished two incentive schemes that paid banks for increasing remittances, after their cost drew IMF attention.

Gulf News quotes SBP as saying “eligible home remittance transactions must continue to remain free of cost for both senders and beneficiaries”. Khaleej Times reports that SBP told banks and exchange companies to keep eligible transfers free. We couldn’t read SBP’s July 2026 circulars ourselves.

Under the last rules we could read, SBP’s circular of 30 June 2025, a transfer qualified only if:

• it was USD 200 or more;
• neither the Pakistani institution nor its overseas partner charged the sender or the receiver any fee at any stage;
• it was one of no more than five free transfers a month from one sender to the same receiver through the same overseas partner (same-day transfers between the same two people counted as one);
• it was not paid into a Roshan Digital Account rupee account.

That scheme has now ended, and no source we found says what “eligible” means after 1 July 2026. SDRP points earned up to 30 June 2026 can be redeemed until 30 June 2027. SBP had already stopped its Exchange Companies Incentive Scheme on 1 July 2025.

Can I send money to a Roshan Digital Account?

Yes. A Roshan Digital Account is for non-resident Pakistanis and holders of a Pakistan Origin Card (POC). It can only be funded by remittances from abroad through banks and exchange companies, with no local deposits except proceeds of permitted investments.

At HBL, for example, the account can be in US dollars, pounds, euros, riyals, dirhams, Canadian dollars, Chinese yuan or rupees, with no minimum balance, and all are fully repatriable. HBL charges nothing on incoming remittances, but correspondent banks may deduct USD 7 to USD 9; it says using its RDA SWIFT code reduces this. For what you can do with the money once it arrives, see Roshan Digital Account investment options and dollar accounts in Pakistan.

Is hawala or hundi legal in Pakistan?

No. Under section 4(1) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947, only authorised dealers may buy, sell or exchange foreign exchange in Pakistan, unless SBP permits it; everyone else may deal only with an authorised dealer. Breaking the Act carries up to five years’ rigorous imprisonment, a fine or both, and the money can be confiscated; the offences are cognizable and non-bailable.

Enforcement is active. In 2025, the FIA carried out 523 raids against hawala and illegal currency dealing, registered 546 cases, arrested 667 suspects and seized currency worth over Rs 1.99 billion, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.

Pakistanis abroad sent a record USD 41.6 billion in workers’ remittances in FY26 (July 2025 to June 2026), Dawn reported from SBP data. In June 2026 alone, USD 792.3 million came from the UAE, USD 514.9 million from the UK and USD 296.8 million from the US.

More guides: Banking & Payments, using Wise in Pakistan, Roshan Digital Account investment, dollar accounts in Pakistan, Money.