How to make bank draft in Nepal

Commercial banks in Nepal issue ‘bank draft’, ‘travel cheque’ or ‘account payee cheque’. Nepali student use the same for living expenses while they live and study abroad.

So, the idea is pretty clear – you pay the money at the bank in Nepal. The bank then issues an ‘account payee cheque’ to you in JPY, AUD, USD or Euros or any equivalent convertible currency that is accepted in the host country. You take the ‘cheque’ to the host country, open a bank account and deposit the ‘bank draft’ there.

However, it is not as straightforward as you might think. Also, it is not so hectic at the same time.

Who has paid the tuition fees?

This is the first questions that most of the banks ask. They wish to confirm the payment of tuition fees before preparing the bank draft for you. Some students might have scholarships. Others could have used their own USD bank cards to pay the fees lesser than or equal to 500 USD. Some other students could have used the service of another commercial bank from Nepal. Significant number of students might have asked people in foreign countries to pay the fees, mostly for the first semester or the first year.

In any of these cases, be ready with documentation(s) that provide(s) proof of fees paid by a natural person, or entity.

Necessary documents

Please make sure that you maintain savings account at the bank from where you are making ‘bank draft’. Since any of the A – level commercial banks of Nepal can issue such ‘bank drafts’, it would not be a rational idea to maintain savings account in one bank and ask another one to issue ‘bank draft’. Get all of the required documents ready by the previous day of preparing ‘bank draft’ in head office of any commercial bank of Nepal. Head offices have the most experienced staffs in this case. However, they claim that their branch offices also have such capacities. You must visit the bank early in the morning with these documents to avoid getting appointment of the next day:

1. Passport
2. PAN Card (Internal Revenue Department of any locality of Nepal issues this card to any individual taxpayer of Nepal. Please do not panic with this new requirement. You will get a PAN card even if you are not employed.)
3. Its wise decision to keep ‘citizenship certificate’ in ‘my clear bag’. However, this is not mandatory.
4. Admission letter
5. Document that can be used as proof of fees paid by a natural person or an authentic entity. Alternatively, you might have scholarships document. The bank’s staffs will feel confident if they had helped you in paying the tuition fees. The documents should clearly mention fees to be paid in consecutive years. This is because the banks in Nepal would expect that the student’s representative might come next semester / year to pay the fees and to make the bank draft for living cost.
6. If the embassy has issued a letter that clearly mentions the living cost for a year, carry that letter as well.
7. Copy of visa / residence permit
8. Copy of ticket

What to do with ‘bank draft’

After you arrive in host country where you will be staying for your studies, please proceed towards the commercial bank there to open the bank account and deposit the cheque in your bank account. One or more of these banks may deny to accept the ‘bank draft’ that you carry. However, the most of the internationally operating banks in the host city will definitely help you in this.

Finally, a sample of ‘bank draft’

When students get the bank drafts, they must keep the paper intact and safe for exchanging in the banks located in the host country.