How to Send Money From Nepal to Australia: Tuition and Living Costs

Education is the approved purpose that makes this possible

As covered in our Nepal outward remittance guide, Nepal Rastra Bank only lets money leave the country for approved purposes. Tuition and study-related costs are the most common one for Australia, which is among the most popular destinations for Nepali students. The rules below apply to the education category specifically.

Step one: the NOC

Before a Nepali bank will send tuition abroad, the student needs a No Objection Certificate from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, applied for online through the ministry's NOC portal. Without it, banks will not remit tuition or living expenses, and it's normally part of the student visa file as well. Get this sorted before you go to the bank, not at the counter.

What NRB allows: the tuition facility and living expenses

NRB's revised Unified Circular 2080 (October 2024) raised the foreign-exchange facility for tuition, affiliation and examination fees at foreign universities from USD 12,000 to USD 25,000 a year. Living expenses are treated separately: families can remit an annual amount reported at USD 2,500 to USD 5,000, alongside tuition supported by documents from the institution. Older articles and consultancy pages still quote the earlier USD 12,000 figure, so check the current number with your bank before planning around it.

The real cost: the 3% education service fee

The Government of Nepal charges a 3% education service fee on the foreign-currency amount taken out for study abroad. On a USD 10,000 semester payment, that's USD 300 before any SWIFT charges or correspondent-bank deductions abroad. For most families it's the largest single cost in the process, well above the transfer fee itself, so build it into your budget from the start.

Pay the institution directly, through the bank

Tuition is meant to be paid directly to the foreign institution using banking instruments, not sent to an individual's account. Many schools and the visa process itself expect formal banking channels, which is one more reason informal routes such as hundi are a bad idea here on top of being illegal.

Two recent changes worth asking your bank about

Two updates have been reported in 2026. First, an NRB directive dated April 8 is reported to require that later tuition and living-expense payments go through the same bank that handled the first payment, with the original NOC presented each time. Second, in June, NRB reportedly allowed banks to release up to 5% more foreign currency than the stated requirement, to cover exchange-rate movement between the fee quote and the payment. Both are worth confirming directly with your bank, since circulars get revised.

Documents to bring

• The student's valid NOC
• The institution's offer letter and fee invoice or fee schedule
• The student's passport, and visa where already issued
• Your own ID and proof of your funds, as the sender
• Any confirmation the institution issues of enrolment, such as a Confirmation of Enrolment for Australian study. Ask your bank which documents it wants

When the student sends money back

The other direction is a separate process. If your student later sends money home from Australia, our guide for students and workers in Australia and the AUD to NPR rate guide cover that side.

See also: send money from Nepal: the real rules · documents needed to send money to Nepal · remittance terms glossary