So you need to move money between Pakistan and the UAE. Maybe you've just landed a job in Dubai and want your savings to follow you over; maybe you're already here, sending part of every salary back to Karachi or Lahore. This guide covers how to transfer money from Pakistan to the UAE and, just as importantly, how to send it the other way — because for most people here, that's the direction that matters month after month. The methods are the same handful of options either way. The gap between the cheapest and the priciest, though, is real money.
Sending money from Pakistan to the UAE
Say you're relocating and want your rupee savings waiting in a UAE account when you land. You've got three realistic options:
- Bank transfer: the big Pakistani banks — HBL, Meezan, UBL, Bank Alfalah — will wire money to a UAE account over the SWIFT network. It's the safe, boring choice, and it's fine for a large one-off like moving your savings. It's also the slowest, and rarely the cheapest, since you pay a fixed fee and lose a little on the exchange rate.
- Exchange companies: Pakistan is full of licensed remittance firms, and a branch is never far. Handy if you'd rather deal with a person than an app — though rates differ enough between them that it's worth ringing two or three before you hand over cash.
- Digital apps: Wise and similar apps let you do the whole thing from your phone and, crucially, show you the real rate and fee before you commit. Just check the app actually supports sending out of Pakistan — not all of them do, and the list changes.
Whichever you pick, keep three things handy: your CNIC (or passport), the recipient's UAE account name and IBAN, and a reason for the transfer — "family support" or "savings" is usually all they want. One tip from experience: triple-check the IBAN. A single wrong digit is the most common reason a transfer bounces back a week later. For larger sums, the State Bank of Pakistan can ask where the money came from, so keep a payslip or bank statement within reach.
On timing: a bank transfer takes one to three working days, exchange companies usually manage same or next day, and a good app can land the money in minutes.
Sending money home to Pakistan from the UAE
For most people reading this, the money runs the other way — a slice of the salary heading back to Pakistan around payday. The good news: this is the busy corridor, so providers fight hard for it and the rates stay tight.
- Exchange houses: LuLu Exchange and Al Ansari are the default for a reason — branches in every mall, same-day delivery to Pakistani bank accounts and cash-pickup counters, and often no transfer fee at all. Anyone who's queued at a LuLu counter on the last Friday of the month knows how popular they are.
- Digital apps: Wise, Remitly and UAE-grown wallets like Pyypl do it all from your phone, usually with a sharper rate and no trip to the mall. Pyypl in particular has built a following among workers here precisely because it skips the branch.
- Banks: your UAE bank will send money to Pakistan too, but it's usually the priciest route once you factor in their rate. Convenient if the money's already sitting there; rarely the best value.
The money can land in a Pakistani bank account, arrive almost instantly through the Raast instant-payment system, wait at a cash-pickup counter, or drop into a mobile wallet — whatever's easiest for whoever's collecting it.
Here's why the rate is worth two minutes of your attention. Say you want 50,000 PKR to arrive — that's roughly 660 AED when the rate sits near 76 rupees to the dirham. A service shouting "zero fees" but quietly running a weaker rate might cost you about 670 AED. Another that charges a small fee but gives you a stronger rate could get the same 50,000 across for around 663 AED. Same money delivered, several dirhams apart — and that gap repeats every single month. So ignore the fee headline and look at the number that lands. (Rates move daily; treat these as ballpark.)
In practice, fees on this route run anywhere from nothing to about 25 AED, and it's the exchange-rate margin — not the fee — that usually decides the winner. Exchange houses and wallets are typically same-day or instant, and Raast has made bank deposits quick too.