A large share of prize bond holders live outside Pakistan, and the system was designed long before that was common. Nothing about prize bonds is impossible from abroad, but a few decisions made early save a great deal of trouble later.
Buying while you are overseas
Prize bonds are physical securities sold only at counters inside Pakistan, so they cannot be bought online or shipped by the issuer. In practice, overseas holders acquire bonds in one of two ways:
- Buying in person during a visit home.
- Asking a trusted family member to buy on their behalf — which works, but with an important caveat below.
The caveat: a bearer bond belongs to whoever holds it. If a relative buys and keeps the bond, in legal terms it is theirs while they hold it. Keep the purchase receipt with the bond numbers, keep photographs, and be clear within the family about who owns what.
Why registered premium bonds suit overseas holders better
For anyone living abroad, the Rs. 25,000 and Rs. 40,000 premium (registered) bonds solve several problems at once:
- Ownership is recorded against your CNIC — no dispute about who holds the paper.
- A lost bond can be replaced, unlike a bearer bond.
- The prize is credited to your registered bank account in Pakistan, so no one needs to carry cash to you.
Registration requires a CNIC or NICOP and a bank account in your own name in Pakistan, which most overseas Pakistanis already maintain.
Checking results from abroad
This is the easy part. Every draw result is published on this site as soon as it is issued, and you can:
- Search a single number, or paste hundreds of numbers at once, against any draw or against the whole archive using the advance search.
- Download the complete winning list for any draw as a PDF or Excel file from the download page.
- Save your numbers in a wallet account so every new draw is checked automatically and you are notified — no time-zone maths, no remembering draw dates.
The draw schedule shows every upcoming date and city for the whole year, which is useful for planning a trip if you would rather claim in person.
Claiming without flying home
Claims are processed inside Pakistan, so if you cannot come yourself you will normally need to authorise someone. The usual route is a power of attorney in favour of a trusted person in Pakistan, executed and attested at the Pakistani embassy or consulate in your country of residence, and then processed as required in Pakistan.
Requirements vary by office and by the size of the claim, so before you have any document drawn up, contact the National Savings Centre or SBP-BSC field office where the claim will be presented and ask precisely what they need. Doing this in the right order avoids paying for an attestation that then has to be redone.
Tax and the filer question
Withholding tax on prize money is deducted at the applicable rate based on filer status, in the same way as for residents. Many overseas Pakistanis do file returns in Pakistan for exactly this reason. Check your status on the FBR Active Taxpayer List before the claim is presented — see our guide on filer status for how to check and how to register.
Practical storage advice
- Photograph every bond, front and back, and keep the images in cloud storage you can reach from anywhere.
- Keep the purchase receipt separately from the bonds.
- Store bearer bonds in a bank locker rather than a family cupboard if the amount is significant.
- Record the numbers online so they keep being checked even while the paper sits in Pakistan.