Money tool
NRB Forex Calculator
Nepal Rastra Bank caps how much foreign currency a Nepali student can remit per year. For most Western destinations the baseline is about USD 12,000. The tool shows the gap against your real first-year tuition and where the rest will need to come from.
The NRB forex allowance is $12,000, but your tuition is $35,000. You need to cover an additional $23,000 per year via family funds, a loan, or a scholarship.
- Family funds declared to NRB as an additional source (subject to NRB discretion and paperwork).
- Education loan — MPOWER / Prodigy for US/CA, or a Nepali bank loan if you have collateral.
- Merit scholarship or assistantship directly from the university (reduces the tuition bar).
- Part-time on-campus work (limited value — earnings usually don’t cover tuition, but they reduce living-cost pressure).
How the NRB cap actually works
The baseline of USD 12,000 per year is what any Nepali student with a valid student visa and No Objection Certificate can remit through a commercial bank without additional approval. Beyond that, banks file a request to the NRB Foreign Exchange Management Department with supporting paperwork — an itemised Cost of Attendance letter on university letterhead is the key document.
Processing takes 20 to 30 days after your bank receives the complete file. A USD 55,000 Master's tuition is achievable through NRB — we have seen it dozens of times — provided the COA letter is specific to you and the sponsor documents are clean.
How it works
- 1
Pick a destination
USA, Canada, Australia, UK, Japan, Germany — eleven countries covered with the current NRB baseline for each.
- 2
Enter your first-year cost
Use the figure from your university's official admission letter, not a website estimate. Include tuition plus mandatory fees.
- 3
See the funding gap
The result shows how much the NRB baseline covers and what you'll need from family savings, education loan, or scholarship.
Methodology: The NRB Foreign Exchange Management Department publishes baseline limits per destination. Commercial banks (Nabil, NIC Asia, Global IME) process the application against your NOC, admission letter, and passport. Banks can approve more than the baseline when extra documentation (family affidavits, loan letters, scholarship letters) is on file — but branch discretion matters. Always confirm the current limit with your bank before committing.
Need a loan to bridge the gap? Compare the actual Nepali bank options.
Open the loan matcherAlso useful