How to repay your student loan when you’re moving abroad: Complete guide

If you studied in the UK, you may well be one of the millions of former students with a loan from the Student Loans Company (SLC) that you need to repay.

If you live and work in the UK, the process for repaying your loan is straightforward. As long as your employer has the correct information, the money comes directly out of your salary. However, things get considerably more complicated if you move overseas.

We’re here to help, with an essential guide to repaying your student loan if moving abroad. This includes everything you need to know, including when to tell the SLC, how much you’ll pay and what to do before you move.

We’ll also introduce the Wise Account, which lets you hold multiple currencies and spend in 160+ countries with the Wise card.

➡️ Sign up with Wise for free

What happens to your student loan when you’re moving abroad?

The short answer to this is - not very much. Your UK student loan will still be there awaiting repayment, and it will still gain interest. You may have moved abroad, but you haven’t escaped your debts.

This means you’ll need to make arrangements before you move to continue making repayments on your loan, as well as keeping on top of the paperwork in the years to come.

Will your student loan be written off when you’re living abroad?

Sadly not. Your student loan won’t be cancelled just because you’re moving overseas. You’ll still have to pay it back.

If you don’t - or you neglect to tell the Student Loans Company (SLC) that you’re moving abroad - you may have to pay a penalty. This is a fixed monthly payment, and it’s likely to be far more than you’d have to pay otherwise.

There’s also a chance that the SLC will ask you to repay the entire loan (plus interest) back at once, in one lump sum.¹

How much do you have to pay on your student loan when you’re working abroad?

When you’re living and working abroad ,you have to repay your student loan under the same conditions you would if you lived in the UK.

This means that like in the UK, you’ll only have to make repayments if your salary is above a certain amount. This threshold depends on your student loan repayment plan, which is determined by when you started your course.

Your student loan plan also affects how much of your income you repay, over the repayment threshold. Let’s take a look:¹

Student loan plan	Salary threshold	How much of your income you repay - over the salary threshold
Plan 1 - if you started your course before 1st September 2012	£24,990/year	9%
Plan 2 - if you started your course between 1st September 2012 and 31st July 2023	£27,295/year	9%
Postgraduate - if you started a Master’s course after 1st August 2016 or a Doctoral course after 1st August 2018	£21,000/year	6%
Plan 5 - if you start any kind of course on or after 1st August 2023	£25,000/year	9%

If you’re living overseas, these salary threshold figures may be a little different, because of the differing costs of living in countries around the world. The SLC will ask for details of your income, calculate your new repayments and let you know how much you’ll be paying each month.¹

You can find detailed information on how thresholds and repayments are calculated for each loan repayment plan here on the Government’s website.

Just like in the UK, the amount you have to pay back is 9% of your earnings (unless you’re on a postgraduate plan, as in the above table), above the determined repayment threshold.¹

However, you may not have to start repaying straight away when you move abroad. It’s a good idea to check with an advisor or other relevant professional, as you might be allowed a grace period as you sort everything out.

What happens with your student loan when you’ve been living abroad for 5 years?

There are a number of myths and rumours out there about student loans getting written off after 5 years of living overseas - but these aren’t true.

You will still have to make repayments on your UK student loan after 5 years spent living in another country.

Of course, you may still get your debt written off eventually, but that depends on your loan plan, and not whether you’re living in the UK or overseas.

Here are the circumstances under which UK student loans will be cancelled:¹

• Plan 1 - when you reach the age of 65, if you took the loan out before 1st September 2006. For loans between 1st September 2006 and 1st September 2012, the loan will be cancelled after 25 years.
• Plan 2 - after 30 years
• Postgraduate loans - after 30 years
• Plan 5 - after 40 years.

How to repay your student loan when you’re living abroad - a step-by-step guide

Now, let’s take a look at how you’ll actually go about repaying your student loan while living abroad. The most important steps will need to be taken before you actually leave the UK, as we’ll explore below.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to how to keep up with your student loan overseas.

Before you move

1: Notify the SLC before you go

The first and most important thing you need to do before moving abroad is contact the Student Loans Company. If you’ll be living abroad for more than 3 months, you must tell the SLC about your change of circumstances. If you don’t, you could face penalties.

2: Update your employment details with the SLC

The key difference with your student loan repayments while you’re abroad is that you repay them directly to the SLC, rather than via your employer and your monthly salary. Therefore, the SLC needs to see evidence from you regarding what you earn.

Before you leave the UK, and any time your employment situation changes, you’ll need to update your employment details with the SLC. The good news is that you can do this online here on the UK Government’s website.

Alongside this, you’ll need to provide evidence. If you’re going to be employed abroad, they’ll need to see one of the following:²

• Copies of your last 3 months of payslips
• A signed, dated copy of your contract from the last 6 months
• A letter from your employer detailing your pay while on leave.

If you’re self-employed, you’ll need to provide one of the following:²

• Your most recent financial accounts
• A letter from your accountant
• Bank statements covering the last 3 months (if you’re newly self-employed and don’t have either of the above)

Both employed and self-employed people will also need to provide information on their gross income, the country they’re living in and the currency they’re paid in.

It should be more or less straightforward for you to provide the requested documentation. Just try and satisfy all of the conditions they ask for, and make sure to be honest and fully transparent - it’s just not worth the potential penalties otherwise.

3. Your repayments are calculated

Once you’ve updated your employment details, the SLC will send you a letter outlining how much your monthly repayments will be. They’ll convert your income into GBP (if it’s in another currency) and your repayment schedule will also be denominated in GBP.

4. Set up your payments

It’s now up to you to set up your repayments. There are a few ways to do this, but a recurring payment from your bank or a money services provider like Wise may be easiest.

If you’re using your bank, you’ll just need to watch out for the transfer fees - as well as carefully checking the exchange rate. Some banks can add a mark-up to their exchange rates, which means the transfer can end up costing you more.

A non-bank alternative such as Wise can offer low, transparent fees* and mid-market exchange rates with no expensive mark-ups.

Once you’ve moved abroad

There are two things you need to do once you’ve moved abroad. The first is to keep making your repayments, as per the schedule you’ve been given. The second is to update your employment details when requested. You may need to do this every year, and the SLC may also send you a letter to remind you.

If anything changes about your employment circumstances - such as a rise or fall in your income level, for example - you can also contact the SLC yourself.

How can you repay the Student Loans Company from abroad?

Within your GOV.UK online account (which you’ll need to update your employment details), you’ll have a few different options to make your repayments.

This includes a Direct Debit, international transfer or a one-off or recurring payments from an international debit card.³

Direct Debit may not be possible if you no longer have a UK bank account, and even if it is it may involve currency exchange and international transfer fees as you send funds from overseas back to your UK account.

An international debit card could be a great option. You can even use the Wise card to set up your payments. Open a Wise account, get your own Wise card for a one-off cost of just £7 and then simply enter the card details when prompted in your GOV.UK account.

The benefit of this is that you’ll be able to pay the SLC directly in British pounds. Currency conversion is done using the mid-market exchange rate that Wise uses.

---

Start your new life abroad with a Wise account

If you’re looking for a cost-effective way to manage your money overseas - and send money to and from the UK - Wise could be a great solution.

With a Wise account, you can hold and convert 40+ currencies all in one powerful online account. Send money worldwide for low fees* and mid-market exchange rates.

You can also spend in your new country using your Wise card, which works in 160+ countries. It’s a great solution for UK expats starting a new life abroad, especially those that still have financial commitments back in the UK.

---

Sources used:

1. GOV.UK - Student loans: a guide to terms and conditions 2024 to 2025
2. GOV.UK - Update your employment details
3. GOV.UK - Repaying your student loan

Sources last checked 12-Dec-2025