Buying off-plan property in Dubai from Pakistan: SBP rules, tax and the process (2026)

Pakistanis are one of the largest groups of foreign buyers in Dubai, and the purchase itself is the same for them as for anyone else: you reserve a unit, sign a sale and purchase agreement with the developer, the developer registers the sale on the Dubai Land Department's Oqood register, and you pay instalments into the project's escrow account. Our step-by-step guide covers that side in full.

What is different for a Pakistani buyer is how the money leaves Pakistan and how the property is taxed and declared afterwards. That side is governed by Pakistani law: the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947, the State Bank of Pakistan's Foreign Exchange Manual and the Income Tax Ordinance 2001. Unlike India, Pakistan has no general scheme that lets a resident individual remit a set amount each year for buying property abroad, and that single fact shapes everything else in this guide.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Foreign exchange rules turn on your residential status and the source of your money, and they change by circular. Before you commit, speak to a Pakistani chartered accountant or tax adviser and to the foreign exchange desk of your bank, and get the bank's answer in writing.

Conversions in this guide are approximate, at about PKR 277 per US dollar and PKR 75.5 per dirham at the start of October 2026. The dirham is pegged at AED 3.6725 to the dollar, so rupee figures move with the rupee–dollar rate. A AED 1.5M apartment is therefore about USD 408,000 or PKR 113M.

Pakistani law uses two different residence tests, and you need to know where you stand on both.

For foreign exchange. The Foreign Exchange Manual says no definite rules can be laid down, but there is a presumption that a person is resident if they maintain a home in Pakistan, live there for a substantial part of each year, or pay income tax as a resident. A Pakistani who has moved to Dubai for work and lives there is in practice treated as non-resident by banks; a Pakistani living in Lahore who visits Dubai is not.

For tax. Under section 82 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, an individual is resident for a tax year (1 July to 30 June) if present in Pakistan for 183 days or more. Since the Finance Act 2022 a Pakistani citizen is also resident if they are not present in any other country for more than 182 days in the tax year, or are not a resident taxpayer of any other country. The older rule that 120 days in the year plus 365 days over the previous four years made you resident was removed in 2021. Government employees posted abroad remain resident.

NICOP holders. The National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis is an identity document, not a residence status. A NICOP holder living in Dubai is usually non-resident on both tests; one who has moved back to Karachi is resident, NICOP or not. Dual nationals are treated as persons resident outside Pakistan for some securities rules in chapter 20 of the Manual, but that does not make them non-resident for property or tax purposes.

Status can change mid-purchase. An off-plan plan runs for three or four years, and someone who books while working in Dubai and moves home before handover is resident when the later instalments fall due. Plan for that before you book.

What the 1947 Act says

The starting point is the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947. Section 4 says that, except with the general or special permission of the State Bank, no one other than an authorised dealer may buy or sell foreign exchange. Section 5 then says that, save under a general or special exemption granted by the State Bank, no person in, or resident in, Pakistan shall make any payment to a person resident outside Pakistan, or any payment as consideration for or in association with the acquisition by any person of property outside Pakistan.

A Dubai developer is a person resident outside Pakistan, and an off-plan unit is property outside Pakistan. A payment by a resident for it is therefore caught unless the State Bank has permitted it.

What the Foreign Exchange Manual permits

The State Bank sets out its general permissions in the Foreign Exchange Manual. We read the chapters that could be relevant:

• Chapter 10, inward and outward remittances. Banks may sell foreign exchange for approved transactions only, on prescribed forms: Form I for imports, Form T-1 for travel and Form M for all other remittances. Where a transaction needs the State Bank's prior approval, the bank forwards the application.
• Chapter 16, private remittances. It lists family maintenance, subscriptions, fees and similar purposes. Paragraph 19 says applications by individuals for any other purpose go to the State Bank on Form M, to be decided on the full facts of each case. Buying property abroad is not among the listed purposes.
• Chapter 20, securities. Paragraph 13 allows equity investment abroad by residents on set conditions, including by individuals in listed securities. It covers shares and similar securities, not real estate.

We found no general permission in the Manual for a resident individual to buy foreign exchange from a bank in Pakistan to purchase property abroad. In practice, that means a resident cannot walk into a bank with rupees and send the booking deposit to a Dubai escrow account. Whether the State Bank would approve such a remittance case by case on Form M is not something we could confirm, and we are not aware of a published policy that it does.

Foreign currency accounts

The route Pakistani banks most often discuss is a personal foreign currency account (FCA). Chapter 6 of the Manual says, in paragraph 1(vi), that these accounts are free from all foreign exchange restrictions: account holders may use the balance for local payments or for remittance to any country and for any purpose. The limits are in what can go into the account.

• Permitted credits. Remittances received from abroad, travellers cheques issued outside Pakistan, and foreign exchange from encashing Government of Pakistan securities. A resident can also deposit cash foreign currency only if they are a filer under the Income Tax Ordinance; deposits of more than USD 10,000 in cash in a day need the original receipt of acquisition.
• Not permitted. Foreign exchange bought from a bank, money changer or exchange company in Pakistan for any purpose, export proceeds, payments for services rendered from Pakistan, and borrowed foreign exchange.
• The business-use line. The same paragraph says personal foreign currency accounts of any nature should not be used for commercial and business purposes. A single home bought abroad may not be treated the same way as a portfolio of investment flats; ask your bank how it reads that line for your purchase.

So a resident whose FCA holds, for example, money a family member sent from abroad, or salary from earlier years working overseas, has a documented route. A resident who would need to buy dollars in Pakistan to fill the account does not. Banks also report personal FCA movements above USD 10,000 a month to the State Bank, so expect questions about the source of the balance.

Money already held abroad

Many Pakistanis have savings outside Pakistan from years spent working in the Gulf or elsewhere. Using money that is already abroad, earned lawfully and declared to the FBR, does not involve buying foreign exchange in Pakistan. But section 5 of the 1947 Act is drafted widely, and we have not found an official text that says plainly whether a resident may use foreign-held funds to buy property abroad without the State Bank's permission. If this is your route, take advice from a chartered accountant or a lawyer who practises foreign exchange law before you book, and make sure the funds and the eventual property are both in your wealth statement.

The Roshan Digital Account is the State Bank's Foreign Currency Value Account, introduced in 2020 and set out in paragraph 8A of chapter 6. It can be opened by non-resident Pakistanis, holders of a Pakistan Origin Card, and resident Pakistanis who have declared assets held abroad in their wealth statement. It is credited with remittances from abroad, profit on permitted investments and transfers from the holder's own rupee value account, and it exists mainly to let overseas Pakistanis invest in Pakistan: government securities, deposits, shares and property in Pakistan.

Balances can be remitted outside Pakistan without prior approval from the bank or the State Bank, so money an overseas Pakistani has sent into the account from abroad can go back out. What the account does not do is turn rupees in Pakistan into foreign exchange for a Dubai purchase. For an overseas Pakistani, paying the developer directly from a UAE or other foreign bank account is simpler.

Informal transfer systems are still offered for Dubai purchases. They are not a shortcut.

• In Pakistan it is a crime. Dealing in foreign exchange other than through an authorised dealer breaches section 4 of the 1947 Act and can also fall under the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010. A 2020 amendment to section 23 of the Act raised the punishment for illegal foreign exchange business from two years to five, and the Federal Investigation Agency regularly prosecutes hawala and hundi operators.
• In the UAE it fails the checks. Developers and brokers are designated non-financial businesses under the UAE's anti-money laundering law, now Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025, which replaced the 2018 law in October 2025. They must verify the buyer and the source of funds, and brokers file a real estate activity report with the UAE Financial Intelligence Unit when a purchase is paid in cash of AED 55,000 or more, or in virtual assets.
• It leaves you without a paper trail. A purchase funded through hawala cannot be shown in your wealth statement with a lawful source, and money that cannot be traced is hard to bring back to Pakistan when you sell.

Pay only by bank transfer from an account in your own name into the escrow account shown on the developer's payment request, and keep every bank advice.

A resident is taxed in Pakistan on worldwide income. A Dubai property creates three Pakistani tax points.

Rent. Rent from the Dubai property is foreign-source income, converted into rupees and taxed with your other income. Which Dubai costs, such as service charges and the letting agent's fee, can be deducted is a question for your adviser.

Gains on sale. Pakistan taxes gains on Pakistani property at special rates that depend on when it was bought and how long it was held. According to PwC's tax summary, gains on immovable property outside Pakistan are instead taxed at the normal slab rates, whatever the holding period. A sale of an off-plan unit before handover, which our guide to selling off-plan before handover describes, is also a disposal for tax.

Returning from abroad. Foreign-source income of a returning expatriate, a citizen who was not resident in any of the previous four tax years, is exempt in the tax year of return and the following year. If you bought while working in Dubai and are moving home, that window matters for rent in the first two years.

The Pakistan–UAE tax treaty

Pakistan and the UAE signed an income tax convention on 7 February 1993, since modified by the multilateral instrument. Article 6 allows income from immovable property to be taxed in the country where the property is, and Article 13 does the same for gains on selling it. Article 24 says Pakistan gives credit for UAE tax paid on that income, up to the Pakistani tax on it.

In practice the credit is nil, because the UAE does not levy income tax on individuals, and UAE corporate tax does not apply to an individual's real estate investment income that is not earned through a licensed business. The treaty therefore does not reduce Pakistani tax on Dubai rent or gains for a resident. Its main use is for people taxed as resident in both countries, where the tie-breaker rules in Article 4 apply.

The wealth statement and the foreign assets statement

Wealth statement. Under section 116 of the Income Tax Ordinance, a resident individual filing a return must file a wealth statement listing assets and liabilities, including those held abroad. A Dubai property belongs in it from the year you acquire rights in it, which for off-plan means from booking or Oqood registration, at the amounts you have paid, not only from handover. The statement also has to reconcile: the money used to pay each instalment must be explained by declared income or declared assets.

Foreign income and assets statement. Section 116A requires a separate statement from a resident with foreign income of USD 10,000 or more, or foreign assets worth USD 100,000 or more, in the year. A AED 1.5M off-plan unit crosses the asset threshold once you have paid about AED 370,000. Failure to file carries a penalty under section 182 based on the value of the undeclared foreign income or assets.

Capital value tax on foreign assets. The Finance Act 2022 introduced capital value tax at 1% on a resident individual's foreign assets where their total value at the end of the tax year exceeds PKR 100M, roughly AED 1.3M at current rates. Its constitutional validity has been challenged, and in June 2026 the Senate finance committee recommended abolishing it; we could not confirm whether the Finance Act 2026 did so. Ask your adviser whether it applies for your tax year.

The tax year runs from July to June, and returns with the wealth statement are due by 30 September. Pakistan's past amnesties for undeclared foreign assets have closed; the only safe course is to buy with declared money and declare the property.

For a non-resident Pakistani most of this guide falls away.

• Paying from abroad. Salary or business income earned in the UAE or elsewhere can be paid straight from your foreign bank account to the developer's escrow account. No Pakistani approval is needed, because the payment never passes through Pakistan.
• Buying with a UAE salary. This is the most common Pakistani purchase in Dubai and the simplest. A UAE resident can sign at the developer's office, use an Emirates ID for registration, and take a UAE mortgage at handover if the bank's criteria are met; our off-plan mortgage guide covers the lending side.
• Pakistani tax. A non-resident is generally taxed in Pakistan only on Pakistan-source income, so Dubai rent and gains are usually outside Pakistani tax. Many overseas Pakistanis still file a return to keep active taxpayer status, which affects withholding rates on Pakistani transactions; ask your adviser whether to file as a non-resident.
• Moving home. Once you become resident again, Dubai rent and gains become taxable in Pakistan and the property belongs in your wealth statement, subject to the two-year exemption for returning expatriates described above. Remaining instalments would then need a lawful route, so a payment plan that front-loads the payments while you are abroad can help.

Once the money question is solved, a Pakistani passport holder buys in Dubai exactly as any foreign buyer does. Non-UAE nationals can own freehold in designated areas under Law No. 7 of 2006, and you do not need UAE residency. Our guide to whether foreigners can buy property in the UAE covers ownership across the emirates, and our guide to checking an off-plan project and developer shows how to look up a project and its escrow account on the Dubai REST app.

The steps are in our guide to buying off-plan step by step. In brief: you reserve with a booking deposit, sign the SPA, often electronically, the developer registers the sale on Oqood and the 4% DLD fee is paid, and you pay instalments into the escrow account during construction. Our guide to off-plan payment plans explains the structures, and the payment plan calculator shows when each payment falls.

Documents for Pakistani buyers

• Passport, valid for the period of the transaction. DLD's initial sale registration takes a copy of the buyer's Emirates ID or, for a non-resident, passport.
• CNIC or NICOP, which developers and banks often ask for alongside the passport.
• Proof of address, such as a utility bill or bank statement, for the developer's anti-money laundering checks.
• Source of funds, such as the bank statement of the foreign currency account and the credit advices showing where its balance came from, or UAE salary statements for an overseas buyer. The money should come from an account in your own name.
• Tax records, for your own file: your NTN, recent returns and wealth statements, which your Pakistani bank may also ask to see.

Power of attorney signed in Pakistan

Most off-plan purchases need no power of attorney: the SPA is signed electronically and the developer registers Oqood. A power of attorney becomes useful at handover, for an assignment at a trustee office, or for later sale and leasing.

Pakistan joined the Hague Apostille Convention, which entered into force for Pakistan on 9 March 2023. The UAE is not a party, so an apostille alone is not accepted in Dubai, and Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at accession that normal attestation continues for countries outside the convention.

Make the power of attorney specific to the property and the acts you are authorising; Dubai trustee offices and developers can refuse general or unclear wording. If you are visiting Dubai anyway, signing before a notary there is often simpler. Overseas Pakistanis can also sign powers of attorney for use in Pakistan at the Pakistan Consulate in Dubai, which helps if a family member in Pakistan is handling paperwork at that end.

Golden Visa

A property worth AED 2M or more, about PKR 151M, can support a ten-year UAE Golden Visa, and an off-plan Oqood registration is accepted in place of a title deed. A UAE Golden Visa does not change your Pakistani status: a Pakistani who holds one but still lives in Pakistan for most of the year remains resident and taxable in Pakistan on worldwide income. The detail is in our Golden Visa guide.

The Dubai costs are the same for every buyer: the 4% DLD fee, developer administration, and later service charges and utilities. Our guide to the true cost of buying off-plan in Dubai breaks them down. A Pakistani buyer adds the Pakistan-side costs.

Exchange rates matter more than most buyers expect. A purchase priced in dirhams and paid over three or four years is a three- or four-year exposure to the rupee–dollar rate. If your funds are already in dollars or dirhams, that risk is much smaller; if they are not, budget instalments at a conservative rate.

1. Am I resident or non-resident in Pakistan this tax year, for tax and for foreign exchange, and will that change before handover?
2. Where exactly will each instalment come from: UAE or other foreign income, a foreign currency account fed from abroad, or money already held abroad?
3. Has my bank confirmed in writing that it will remit from my foreign currency account for this purchase?
4. Is every rupee and dollar documented, declared to the FBR and in an account in my own name, with no hawala, hundi or third-party payments?
5. Will the escrow account on the developer's payment request match the project record on Dubai REST?
6. How will I fund the handover payment, which can be 40% to 50% of the price in one go?
7. Has a chartered accountant confirmed how rent, gains, the wealth statement, the foreign assets statement and any capital value tax will be handled?
8. If I need a power of attorney, have I allowed time for MOFA and UAE mission attestation?

Browse current off-plan projects with these answers in hand, and use the payment plan calculator to see when instalments fall. If you would like help shortlisting projects whose payment plans fit how your money is held, contact us. None of this is personal financial, tax or legal advice; for decisions specific to you, take advice from a Pakistani chartered accountant or tax adviser, check with your bank, and use an independent lawyer in Dubai.