With Payoneer banning Pakistan, Pakistani freelancer community is very desperate and looking to find ways to solve this problem. First step was to recognize problem, which I discussed here. It happened due to expiration of anti-money laundering ordinance of 2008 and right now Pakistan is lawless when it comes to anti-money laundering & anti-terrorist funding laws. This caused US authorities to issue strict regulations for Pakistan and Payoneer iteslf is effected by these regulations.
Many readers asked me to take action and suggest a way to take action. I suggest you to contact both sides i.e, Payoneer and Gov. of Pakistan. Here are 3 steps:
1. Contact Payoneer support and its senior management requesting to remove this ban or at-least provide limited service.
You can contact Gil Abir, VP Payoneer by emailing him at gil@payoneer.com
This is his linkedin profile, if you are an avid Linkedin user may be you would like to contact Mr. Abir through Linkedin.
2. Contact Pakistani law makers, new anti-money laundering bill is approved from National Assembly and now it has to get approval from senate. If Senate approves this bill then problem itself get corrected. Senate’s next meeting is to be held at 05:00 PM, 5th May, 2010
It means tomorrow, so why don’t write an email to senate. Senate’s official email address is, senate@comsats.net.pk
Contact numbers of Chairman Senate and others can be find here, http://www.senate.gov.pk/lists/currentmem091215.htm
3. As a last resort I plan to write a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan, requesting him to take notice of current situation. Also requesting him to inquire State Bank of Pakistan & PTA about their policies regarding e-Commerce gateway for Pakistan (this can help bringing PayPal to Pakistan).
If you also want to write, address for CJ:
Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Supreme Court of Pakistan, Constitutional Avenue, Islamabad
Do you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to share through comments section.
Option 1 will be useless no matter if you send a billion emails to payoneer because they belong to the civilized world were everything is ruled by law, they will never change there law specially when its about money laundering and terrorism.
Our only option is option 2
we need to bring this issue to light, blog about it as much as possible all over the internet, send emails to PASHA and other people who belong to the IT ministry of Pakistan because they can directly contact senators.
Here is the schedule and agendas of discussion of Pakistan Senate or upper house and as you can see there is no mention of The Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Ordinance for the complete month. This is total ignorance.
If we can pass this ordinance this month then maybe Pakistan can be out of this Black List when FAFT meets again in June/July 2010 at Amsterdam to discuss policies.
sorry this is the list of agendas for the month of May (forgot to paste it before)
http://www.senate.gov.pk/ShowTopics.asp?Language=E&TopicCode=153&CatCode=4
@Ali you have mentioned some strong points.
Contacting PASHA and other people in IT ministry should be in our to-do list.
#$@@ this government for not passing the AML Ordinance!
Aqeel can you email a letter to Dawn Editor and tell him we are suffering because of the governments total ignorance of its citizens matters? letters@dawn.com
You can use our emails and names to make it say from ‘us’ (freelancers) instead of just you to make it a stronger point.
Alright, I emailed senate@comsats.net.pk
Dear Sir,
My name is Syed Nabeel Amin. I received an email today by Payoneer about the termination of services in Pakistan from June 1.
I know it is totally beyond Payoneer as it involves AML Ordinance.
Can I humbly request you to please pass the Anti-Money Laundering bill before June 1,2010, as we freelancers are not involved in any type of money laundering. We are suffering immensely because of this decision by payoneer. Why are we suffering when we are earning halal income?
Please pass the bill which is already approved from National Assembly and now it has to get approval from senate
Yours Sincerely,
Nabeel Amin.
Hi Brothers,
I agree with you all,We should contact senate members, Our Law makers were Sleeping and Still? It was expired on March 26,2010. I have mailed payoneer already and I wish we all keep mailing them so they keep eye on Regulation Clearance. We want AML bill Approved in this May coz the meeting is scheduled in June in Amsterdam. Our President Signed AML BILL already I wish all senate Member Sign it as well.
After this we will need to keep contacting payoneer till this prob end.
This email from Payoneer hurt me emotionally coz I m proud Pakistani and as well as financially. I m upset guys we have to stand up together.
Aqeel Bhai, I really appreciate your efforts.
Ali (the other one) may be right for not sending mails to Payoneer. But We should do everything in the most effective and humble way we can without getting rude or frustrated.
I have mailed Payoneer (support@payonner.com) and “GIL” (gil@payoneer.com) in the most effective way i can.
I will follow, the next step of requesting Chief Justice in form of letter to get notice of this problem, so that he can force the parliament (remind them at least) to renew that Ordinance.
I have seen some other blogs and places, where this is getting discussed, But Think, Aqeel has highlighted the matter in a good and appropriate way.
Think the steps he suggested are very simple and CAN BE USEFUL to get this problem resolved.
Please follow them, other than just saying ‘nothing will happen’.
@Ali Ahmed
You are right Ali, we should at-least make as much effort as we can and then wait for positive results.
I have just read that mail again and notice a thing, which i did not in the first attempt.that
The card/account will not be blocked/banned completely, they will just be ineffective for transactions.
Which means we still can use the cards in any other country or online and load funds to it even after 31st may.
Am i right on this?
Very good post. i am one of the freelancers who are affected by this decision.
Ali i have asked the payoneer team for the complete details. I think they will not be loading the money for cardholders of Pakistan. So, simple we cannot use the card any where.
Coming to the solution.
i) The Payoneer can do nothing for us. They are under the laws. But we should email them to show our frustration and worries. This will help us and will keep the issue hot.
ii) I think the bill will be passed. But we need to re-open the Payoneer before May 31. For this we need to contact Pasha and other people in Govt.
iii) If any body can call to some TV Anchors like Hamid Mir, Guy in Hasbe-Hal, and other poular TV shows, then this issue will be very highlighted in a single day and authorities will take immediate action.
iv) And let me tell you that we need the Paypal service in Pakistan. That is most reliable, fastest and effective way for all the online businesses. Someone has told me that Paypal had contacted State Bank of Pakistan for opening their service in Pakistan. But State Bank was not interested and argued that they cannot keep an eye on these types of transactions etc etc.
Believe me, the solution of both Payoneer and Paypal issue is in the hands of our Pakistani officials. Chief justice can help us. But who will follow the case?
Imran.
Hi, I think TV media can help us to slow this Issue very fast, Is any of you know how to contact them Directly.
Thanks
Rai Aftab
I had email the Paypal team asking about their service for pakistan. I just got their reply now.
-====================
Dear Imran Ali,
Thank you for contacting PayPal. I appreciate the opportunity to assist you
with your enquiry today.
Mr. Ali, I have reviewed your enquiry and please be assured that we’d like
nothing more than to have you as a PayPal customer. Unfortunately, we don’t
currently offer services in Pakistan. We currently support services in 190
countries and regions worldwide, and though we can’t provide an exact date
for coming to your region, we can promise you we’re working hard to get
there.
For more information, just go to the PayPal website and click the
“Worldwide” link at the bottom of the page.
I am glad to have resolved your query today Mr. Ali, I do apologise for any
inconvenience that this matter may cause.
Yours sincerely,
Kylie
PayPal
=================================
There is nothing special in this reply except one sentence:
” though we can’t provide an exact date for coming to your region, we can promise you we’re working hard to get there.”
Lets see when their hard working will show results 🙂
Hi ALL,
To involve Press is one viable option but i am afraid we cant directly get the media to report this news without any involved interest for them. But one possibility is we should go to the press clubs at different major cities like Lahore Karachi and Islamabad and share with them the negligence of our law makers.
As second step i would also like to share that we the freelancers should form some sort of association like “All Pakistan Freelancer’s Association” to handle such things in future. I am sure there are lots of volunteers including me for such cause. And sure as above we have many enthusiastic people like Aqeel and Alena. Such step will give us a solid platform and we will be in position to say at least an entity in pakistan
I have posted above to http://syedaqeel.com/2010/05/payoneer-pakistan-users-can-no-longer-use-payoneer-change-in-regulations/ as well
This will be the best, if Paypal allows Pakistan to use it’s service. I got encountered many times with a situation when my clients wants to pay me through Paypal, and i really get ashamed, when i have to tell him, that paypal does not accept my region.
But in-spite of another service coming , an existing one is going back.
So, At the moment, i don’t care for paypal is here or not.
I just want payoneer, not to leave.
Any body have got any clarification from Payoneer again?
I have not got any response for 3 of my queries yet.
This is the reply I have got from Payoneer top management.
——-
Hi Ali,
As of June 1, 2010 Payoneer was required by US regulators to stop transactions to Pakistan.
We fully understand the problem this will cause to our cardholders and we are trying to find a solution.
The solution might include additional verification checks to demonstrate to regulators that Pakistanis cardholders can indeed use Payoneer cards..
We will update you as soon as possible. Please know that we, at Payoneer, are doing all we can to find a solution.
As for your final question, your card will work outside Pakistan as usual, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Thanks
–Tomer
———————————–
So there you have it guys there is finally Hope for us all!!!
Thank GOD.
And Thanks Ali for sharing this.
Thanks Ali, this email give all of us some relief. But until this problem resolved we have to take it seriously.
I am using payoneer card from much years and received my money with out any problem. This is the best Payment Solution for us. We should not giveup in any way.
I wish Payoneer resume it services for us after June and onwards as well.
If they ask verification or ID card or some thing thats goods as we wont mind to prove we are true users of this card in Pakistan.THIS IS A FACT
But I think we should keep sending them emails to payoneer support in an intervals so they can understand WE REALLY NEED IT.
As well in senate email address.
I hope US Government Regulators /Payoneer Understand our Lazzy Government. If government/senate members not passing this AML Ordinance even after expiry. Whats the mistake of Normal People why they suffer? True is that Our Govt people not gona suffer from all this. But still I wish they pass this ordinance and Problem get solved in june in Amsterdam.
Well i just got email from Elance that they are removing Payoneer card from withdrawing options. so if other sites follow suit then we cant even use the card for online purchase as well. so i think astalavista Payoneer
The Tomer is a Payoneer Community Admin. In short guy who said he got email from payoneer Top management he is just lieing. Tomer replied the above msg in Payoneer Community. So guys say true regarding this matte for a God Sake. Dont ease others coz its a critical matter we should not sit idle until it resolved. Share the facts truly.
My suggestion is to call some high tech professional Free Lancers or Free Lance companies and also contact to any reputed Media channel and ask That Media channel to arrange an live program on this issue with Pakistani authorities.
Because this is very serious issue. If this ban will not finished then We have just one option for transferring our money and that is Moneybookers. Which have many hidden fees.
According to my rough observation more then 10,000 persons are directly connected with online earning. So if Pakistani Gov. Will not do something in this regard then more 10,000 people will jobless and unemployment will increase more.
So we have to do something in this regard.
Best regards
Abdul
Online Marketer
BYTDL
Assalam o Alaikum,
Hello Syed Aqeel,
First of all i would like to appreciate your great effort for this article and verfy much important News about internet transactions.
I want to ask afew questions:
Have you written Email or Mail to the government of Pakistan??
If we contact here at senate@comsats.net.pk will we get any reply??
Will this effect on other Payment processors like Alertpay,Moneybokers or Credit Debit Card also??
Thanks,
Hello
Everything is fine now.
I received email last night from Payoneer Support.
“Dear Customer,
Thank you for contacting us.
Following our previous notice about the change in our regulations, Payoneer is happy to inform you that we are able to offer you a new Payoneer card that will be usable in your country.
The new card carries the same benefits you enjoyed with your previous Payoneer card, and can be used at ATMs, in stores and online. Additionally, the new card is configured for higher daily spending limits.”
Regarding Adnan’s last post above, can anyone else confirm getting the above mentioned email as well?
Yes, This is true. But Payoneer is going to send a new card to everyone and before that you’d have to provide them your ID card’s photo copy. New card would have same features plus increased limit.
Below is the actual response from Payoneer :
“Following our previous notice about the change in our regulations, Payoneer is happy to inform you that we are able to offer you a new Payoneer card that will be usable in your country.
The new card carries the same benefits you enjoyed with your previous Payoneer card, and can be used at ATMs, in stores and online. Additionally, the new card is configured for higher daily spending limits.
Within a few days we will send you an email with instructions for ordering your new card from your Payoneer “My Account” at http://www.payoneer.com.
Once you have completed the process of ordering the new card, you will receive an email requesting you to provide a copy of a valid photo ID. Providing the ID is mandatory in order for us to process your card application and issue a card.
Once you receive the new card and activate it, allow two hours for funds and services associated with your existing card to be transferred to the new card.
We look forward to completing the process of issuing a new card for you and hope you will continue to enjoy Payoneer’s services.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions.
Sincerely,
Dominique
Payoneer Customer Support”
i didst get any such email.