A UK student loan does not disappear when your PAYE deductions stop at the airport. The costly mistake is to assume that a lower overseas salary, a local employer or a move to a cheaper country pauses the loan automatically. If you will be outside the UK for more than three months, tell the Student Loans Company (SLC) and let it set the overseas repayment position from your plan, country and evidence.
This checklist is for a borrower moving abroad from the UK, whether for a new job, self-employment, travel or a career break. It covers the SLC repayment process, not UK tax residence, immigration permission, local income tax or the Australian HELP system. Those are separate decisions.
1. Tell SLC before an overseas stay becomes a missed update
GOV.UK says you need to update your employment details if you leave the UK for more than three months, including when you move overseas or travel. The same update is required when you return after more than three months away, and when SLC asks you to update your details. It is not an HMRC residence filing or a notice to your new employer.
Use your online student-loan account to start the update and keep the confirmation with your relocation file. Give SLC the facts it asks for rather than estimating from a job offer: where you will live, how you will support yourself and the income evidence requested by the service. If your job, income or address changes after the move, update it rather than waiting for the next annual review.
If you do not supply the requested information, GOV.UK warns that arrears can build up and a higher interest rate may apply. A later claim that income was below a threshold does not erase arrears created by a missing update. That is why this belongs on the departure plan alongside your passport, banking and tax records.
2. Identify the loan plan before looking at a country threshold
Check the repayment plan shown in your online account, recent payslip or SLC correspondence. Do not label every undergraduate loan "Plan 2", and do not assume a postgraduate loan follows the same repayment terms as an undergraduate plan. Overseas tables exist for Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4, Plan 5 and Postgraduate Loans; the correct table depends on the loan you actually have.
The overseas threshold is not simply the UK threshold converted at today's exchange rate. SLC sets country-specific thresholds annually with a published exchange-rate approach. The tables are updated on 6 April, so a number saved from a previous move or a colleague's country may be stale.
Start with the End-to-End Moving Abroad Planner once you know the monthly amount SLC has set or the cash flow you need to reserve. Add your move costs, income, housing and the repayment as a regular outgoing so the relocation budget does not quietly omit it. The planner does not identify your loan plan, select an SLC country threshold or calculate a legally required repayment.
3. Give income evidence and read SLC's result, not a rough conversion
The online update service tells you what information it needs for your circumstances. Keep copies of the submitted evidence and the resulting repayment schedule. If SLC uses payslips to annualise income, the relevant official guidance explains that the pay frequency and recent pay history can affect the annual figure; bonuses, overtime, commission and allowances can also matter.
For example, a borrower on Plan 1 who moves to Spain should not compare a euro salary with the UK threshold and stop there. The 2026/27 overseas table converts the salary using its published rate, applies Spain's Plan 1 threshold, then calculates the repayment from the excess. A Plan 2, Plan 4, Plan 5 or postgraduate borrower must use the table for that plan instead. The practical lesson is to preserve payslips and use SLC's notice, rather than to reuse this example as a universal formula.
Use the International Cost of Living Calculator after you have the SLC amount to compare your salary and costs in the destination. Enter the actual currency, city and salary inputs; then treat any result as a living-cost comparison, not as evidence of your student-loan liability or a substitute for the SLC table.
4. Set up payment and keep the payment trail usable abroad
After SLC tells you what to pay, GOV.UK says you can make overseas repayments through the online account using an international debit card, a Direct Debit, or an international bank transfer. Check the current payment instructions in your account before transferring money, and use the reference SLC specifies so the payment reaches the correct loan record.
Keep the payment confirmation, foreign-exchange receipt where relevant and the SLC notice together. A bank statement may show money leaving your account, but the SLC account is the better record for allocation to your balance. Check it after the first payment and again if you change bank, card, country or payment method.
The Personalised Expat Action Plan can put the SLC update, first payment check and annual review into a wider departure timeline. Give it the dates and actions you know. It does not contact SLC, submit evidence or confirm that a repayment arrangement is correct.
5. Review it annually and when you come back to the UK
GOV.UK says overseas borrowers need to update employment details each year. Put a reminder in the same file as the loan plan, SLC reference, country table and evidence used. Renewed employment, a move between countries, a period without work or a significant change in earnings can make an old arrangement inaccurate.
When you return to the UK after more than three months abroad, update SLC again. Otherwise you may continue at the overseas country rate, which GOV.UK notes can mean paying more than necessary or being charged a higher interest rate. Your first UK payslip may also need checking to make sure the employer uses the plan shown in your SLC record.
The Annual Cross-Border Tax Review is useful for organising income sources, countries, tax paid and documents alongside the annual SLC update. It cannot calculate SLC repayments, decide your plan or resolve a dispute about arrears. Ask SLC directly where its notice does not match the evidence you supplied; get UK and destination-country tax advice where the move also changes your tax filing or employment structure.
Guidance, not advice: ExpatCompass tools help you organise cash flow and records. They do not determine a Student Loans Company repayment, tax residence, visa status or local tax obligation.
Your UK student-loan moving-abroad order
- Confirm whether you will be outside the UK for more than three months.
- Save the loan plan, current balance, SLC reference and recent account statements before moving.
- Update your overseas employment details and provide the evidence SLC asks for.
- Use the current country table for your exact loan plan; do not reuse a UK or old-country threshold.
- Read SLC's repayment schedule, build it into the move budget and set up a traceable payment method.
- Keep evidence, notices and payment confirmations; check the first payment in your SLC account.
- Update SLC annually, whenever material facts change, and when you return to the UK after a qualifying absence.
The useful outcome is not an informal promise to keep paying. It is a current SLC record, a repayment arrangement based on the right plan and country, and a file that makes the next update straightforward.