ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment has unveiled key details of the “Sohni Dharti Remittance Program”, a new initiative aimed at encouraging overseas Pakistanis to send remittances through legal banking channels.
According to the bureau, the Sohni Dharti program has been devised as an effort to encourage those Pakistanis who are living abroad to contribute positively towards the economic growth of their native country by using legal means to transfer their money back to Pakistan. As part of this initiative, reward points will be provided to all Pakistani expatriates who transfer their remittances via banks.
All Pakistani citizens living abroad would be categorized into four groups on the basis of the total number of remittances transferred in a particular financial year. These groups are Green, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond, depending on the total amount of money sent to Pakistan through the medium of banks.
Similarly, remittances between the amount of $30,001 and $50,000 shall belong to the Platinum category and earn reward points of 1.5 percent. On the other hand, individuals sending more than $50,000 in remittances per year will fall in the Diamond category and will be given reward points of 1.75 percent.
According to officials, these reward points can be converted into cash or will also help in getting some discounts on different services. Such services include the excess luggage allowance for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), payment of duties for cell phones and cars, renewal of identity cards issued by NADRA and NICOPs, premium payments for State Life Insurance, fee payments for OPF schools, passport renewals, and many others.
Furthermore, the bureau declared that the scheme is accessible via a mobile application, and people can download it on an Android or an iPhone smartphone.
It should also be mentioned that the government has encouraged Pakistani expatriates to send remittances legally to the country’s economy while utilizing the benefits of the incentive scheme.
