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Important information for Pakistani students in Russia

As international payment systems Visa and MasterCard have currently stopped their operations on the territory of the Russian Federation, therefore, in Russia there will be no transfers or payments using VISA and MasterCard issued by foreign banks.

Ways of cross-border money transfers to Russia and from Russia valid for 9th of March 2022

1. Using card "Mir" for those countries where it is accepted: Turkey, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Tajikistan.
2. Using cards of international payment system "Union Pay International" (China).
3. Classic bank cross-border transactions by current accounts of citizens, excluding accounts that were open in the Russian banks for which SWIFT has been cancelled (VTB, Bank "Russia", FK "Otkritie", Sovkombank, Promsvyazbank and Novikombank). From Russia its possible to make transactions only to those countries that did not join the sanctions to close relatives in the amount that does not exceed 5000 US dollars a month.
4. Using money transfer system Golden Crown and Western Union, however there are limits on amounts and terms of cross-border money.

The students are recommended to:
1) Open account in any Russian commercial bank that is not under sanctions, but not in Sberbank for which correspondent accounts in dollars will be blocked from March 26th 2022. After opening account it's necessary to get all bank details to transfer money by SWIFT and send to relatives who can transfer money to this account from their account in a foreign bank. After receiving money on his account in a Russian bank the student may convert it into rubles and pay in Russia with the card MIR.
2) Open card UnionPay International (China) and provide bank details for bank transfers to relatives.
3) Address Golden Crown or Western Union and find out about possibilities to receive money transfer from his country.

Students evacuated from Ukraine:
Students who have been evacuated from Ukraine can enrolled in the Russian Universities in their respective fields and continues their studies, the students who used to study free of cost will be able to continue their education in Russian universities free of cost subject to quota from the Russian government if they so desire.