Moving abroad with a UK student loan? How repayment actually works in 2026
5 min read Article Updated 2026-06-12
Yes, you still have to repay your UK student loan if you move abroad. The Student Loans Company keeps charging you, but the income threshold it uses is set for the country you live in, not the UK one, so what you actually pay can look very different once you leave.
This catches a lot of new graduates out. You finish your degree, take a job in Berlin or Sydney, or move home to Lagos or Mumbai, and assume the loan pauses because it is no longer coming out of a UK payslip. It does not. Repayments do not stop at the border, they just change shape. Here is how the overseas system actually works, and the one piece of admin that causes most of the trouble.
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Tell the SLC before you go
The most important step is the one people skip. If you are leaving the UK for more than three months, you need to tell the Student Loans Company before you travel. Do that and they set up an overseas repayment arrangement. Miss it and you can quietly build up arrears that land on your account later, often with interest already added on top.
Letting them know is free and takes a few minutes through your online repayment account. You do not need a job lined up abroad first. The point is simply that the SLC knows where you are and can bill you correctly.
The Overseas Income Assessment
Once you register as living abroad, the SLC asks you to complete an income assessment. You declare what you earn and send evidence, usually a recent payslip or bank statement, and they work out your repayments from there. You keep repaying unless you can show that your overseas income is below the threshold for your country.
Above that line you repay nine per cent of what you earn over it, the same share as in the UK. The thing that changes when you move is the threshold itself.
Why the threshold changes from country to country
The SLC does not use the UK figure abroad. It sets a separate threshold for almost every country, based on the cost of living there, and updates them once a year. A pound stretches further in some places than others, so the income level where repayments start moves with it.
For orientation, the current UK Plan 2 threshold is £29,385 a year and Plan 5 sits at £25,000.
The overseas figures set for April 2025 to March 2026 show how wide the spread is. On Plan 2 the threshold is about £5,695 a year in a lower-cost country such as India, rising to £11,390 in Nigeria, £22,780 in France and £34,165 in higher-cost countries like the United States and Australia.
Plan 5 follows the same logic on a lower base over that period: roughly £10,000 in India, £20,000 in France and £30,000 in the United States.
So the same salary can mean real monthly repayments in one country and nothing at all in another. The number on your contract has not changed, but the line you have to clear has.
What happens if you ignore it
This is where it gets expensive. If you do not give the SLC your income details, they do not simply pause the account. They apply a fixed monthly repayment based on the country you live in, and that fixed amount can be higher than what you would actually owe on your real salary.
Interest also keeps building the whole time, whether or not you are paying. Ignoring the letters does not make the loan cheaper, it usually makes it bigger and far more painful to untangle when you come back.
If you move back to the UK
Coming home flips you back to the normal system. Once you are on a UK payroll again, repayments restart automatically through your salary, and you should tell the SLC you have returned so they switch you back and stop applying the overseas rate. If you were freelancing or self-employed abroad, keep your assessment current until that handover happens.
The short version
Moving abroad does not cancel your student loan and it does not pause it. Tell the SLC before you leave, complete the income assessment honestly, and you pay the same nine per cent above a threshold that has been set for your new country. Ignore it and you risk a fixed bill that is higher than your real repayment, plus interest stacking up in the background. The admin is dull, but it is a great deal cheaper than the alternative.
Do I still pay my student loan if I work abroad?
Yes. Moving overseas does not cancel or pause a UK student loan. You make repayments directly to the Student Loans Company instead of through a UK payslip, and you should tell them before you leave the UK for more than three months.
How much do I repay if I live abroad?
You repay nine per cent of your income above the repayment threshold, the same percentage used in the UK. The difference is that the SLC applies a threshold set for the country you live in, based on its cost of living, rather than the UK figure.
What is the Overseas Income Assessment?
It is the process the SLC uses to work out your repayments while you are abroad. You tell them what you earn and provide evidence such as a payslip or bank statement, and they set your repayments from that. If you do not complete it, they can charge a fixed monthly amount instead.
What if I do not tell the SLC I have moved?
You can build up arrears on your account, and the SLC can apply a fixed monthly repayment for your country that may be higher than what your real income would require. Interest continues to accrue the entire time, so it is almost always cheaper to register and complete the income assessment.
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