How to Get Dual-Currency Card Endorsement in Bangladesh (2026 Passport Dollar Endorsement Guide)

By Farhan Momen (Founder & Travel Editor) · Published September 26, 2026 · Updated 2026-10-19 · 7 min read

Passport dollar endorsement is how a Bangladeshi resident gets foreign exchange for travel recorded against their passport — up to USD 18,000 per calendar year since Bangladesh Bank's FEPD-1 Circular No. 33 (6 September 2026), with at most USD 5,000 as dollar notes. This checked guide explains endorsement at an Authorized Dealer bank, the separate activation step that makes a dual-currency card work online, the USD 300 single-transaction online-payment rule, and how an RFCD account differs.

Passport dollar endorsement is how a Bangladeshi resident gets permission to spend foreign currency from Bangladesh, recorded against their passport and used through cash or an international card. A bank stamp alone is not enough: the foreign-currency and e-commerce part of the card must also be activated before the card will work for travel payments. This guide was checked on 16 October 2026 against Bangladesh Bank's FEPD-1 Circular No. 33 (6 September 2026) and its Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Transactions (GFET) card rules.

1. What Passport Dollar Endorsement Is — and the $18,000 Quota Endorsement is the recording, by an Authorized Dealer (AD) bank, of foreign exchange released to you for travel abroad. Bangladesh Bank allows AD banks to release up to USD 18,000 or equivalent per calendar year for an adult Bangladeshi national residing in Bangladesh [1]. The entitlement for minors below 12 years is 50 percent of the adult amount — up to USD 9,000. At most USD 5,000 of the entitlement may be released as US-dollar notes; the rest is non-cash, for example an international debit, prepaid or credit card. The quota is a ceiling, not an automatic grant: your bank releases foreign exchange against your travel documents, and unused entitlement does not change the next calendar year's limit. An entitlement can be endorsed across cash and card together, as long as the total released in the calendar year stays within the limit.

2. Step by Step: Endorse at an Authorized Dealer Bank Step 1: Take your passport and card to the bank Take your original valid passport and the dual-currency debit, prepaid or credit card you want endorsed, or open one at the bank first — you do not need a credit card or a salary history to hold a debit or prepaid card. Step 2: Ask for travel-quota endorsement Go to an Authorized Dealer branch of your bank and ask for travel-quota endorsement against your passport, stating the amount you need for this trip rather than the full annual ceiling. Step 3: Complete the form and get the endorsement recorded Complete the bank's travel form (TM form where the bank requires it). The officer records the endorsement in your passport with the bank's seal and signature. Step 4: If you use a money changer, check the fee cap If you are buying dollar notes from a licensed money changer instead, Bangladesh Bank's FEPD-2 Circular No. 01 (7 January 2026) caps the endorsement fee at BDT 300 per passport regardless of the amount; the fee must be displayed, and you must receive a written receipt [5]. This cap is for money changers — bank charges are separate, so ask your branch for its own schedule before you pay. Step 5: Activate the card before you travel Before you travel, complete the activation step in the next section. Endorsement without activation is the most common reason a card fails at checkout.

3. Activate the Foreign-Currency and E-Commerce Part Having the endorsement recorded is only half of the process. Before booking a flight, hotel or attraction ticket online, ask your bank — in the app where it offers card controls, or by phone/branch — to open the foreign-currency part of the card and enable e-commerce / 3D-Secure online transactions and overseas POS/ATM use for your travel period. Say this: "Please open the USD foreign-currency part of my endorsed card and enable e-commerce and overseas use until [your return date]." Keep the endorsed amount and your travel dates consistent with your ticket, because the bank releases foreign exchange against those documents.

4. If a Big Flight or Hotel Payment Is Declined (the $300 Rule) Bangladesh Bank's card rules cap a single online purchase at USD 300 under the general online-payment paragraph, which is why large flight or hotel checkouts are often declined on travel-quota cards [2]. Travel-specific payments sit under separate provisions, and in practice banks may process a larger documented travel payment — ask your bank before paying, with your ticket or hotel proof ready; the decision is the bank's, not an automatic right. Do not split a payment or retry repeatedly after a decline; speak to the bank first so the card is not blocked. Cards issued against an RFCD account are different: Bangladesh Bank expressly allows them to be used for online payment at the actual amount [3].

5. Travel-Quota Card vs. RFCD Account — in One View A travel-quota card spends Bangladeshi taka converted at payment time, within your endorsed annual entitlement and calendar-year limit. An RFCD (Resident Foreign Currency Deposit) account holds foreign currency you physically brought back from a trip abroad: you can deposit up to USD 10,000 or equivalent without a customs declaration, and larger amounts with the FMJ declaration made on arrival — that declared amount must be deposited within 30 days [4]. An RFCD account cannot receive remittances or income from abroad, and its card can pay online at the actual amount [3]. For the full comparison and the $300 workaround in detail, read our RFCD vs. travel quota guide.

6. Paying Abroad: Choose Local Currency When a card terminal abroad offers to charge you in BDT or your "home currency," decline and choose the local currency (SAR, THB, MYR, AED, SGD and so on). Choosing home currency makes the merchant's bank convert at its own rate, usually with a markup above the network rate; choosing local currency lets your own bank and card network do the conversion. The markup varies by terminal, so treat "always choose local currency" as the rule rather than any fixed percentage. Our cash-versus-card guide explains when carrying local cash still makes sense.

7. Practical Notes The $18,000 figure dates from 6 September 2026 — before that circular the ceiling was USD 12,000, so older articles, videos and even bank leaflets may still quote the old number. Keep your endorsement receipts and the passport page copy with your travel documents, and re-check the quota and your bank's card settings shortly before each trip: entitlements are per person and per calendar year, and card controls can be switched off between trips.