Pakistani freelancer can receive payments through PayPal this month: IT Minister

Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication, Dr Umar Saif, announced on Saturday that Pakistani freelancers will be able to receive PayPal payments this month through a tri-party arrangement, without needing a PayPal account.

Earlier, the IT Minister revealed a plan for Pakistani freelancers to access PayPal indirectly. This partnership with Payoneer, an existing payment service, allows international clients to use their PayPal accounts to send payments to Pakistani freelancers.

Like a global bank account, PayPal lets freelancers receive payments quickly and securely from international clients.

According to Dr Umar Saif, this initiative would allow freelancers to receive PayPal payments even though they can't directly access PayPal in Pakistan. The money would be deposited directly into their bank accounts without delay.

“The goal is to enable them to accept PayPal payments from their clients abroad through a third-party digital wallet, which will use an international remittance mechanism to remit the dollars to Pakistan, and instantly credit the freelancer’s bank account in Pakistan,” he said in a social media post.

Freelancers can open bank accounts linked to the digital wallet, allowing them to access their earnings through debit cards and dollar accounts.

“State Bank's new regime will allow freelancers to open bank accounts against this digital wallet, get debit cards and create dollar accounts so that they freely use their earnings. Freelancers will be able to register with [the] Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and will only have to pay a nominal 0.25% tax. Along with our plan to create 10,000 e-rozgaar centers, this will enable Pakistan to truly benefit from the earning potential of our online freelancers,” Umar Saif added. 

In January, Dr Saif clarified that Paypal itself will not operate directly in Pakistan, instead, a third-party service will handle the transactions, ensuring quick deposits into freelancers' local bank accounts.