Outstanding student loan

[Egg & Andy 0]

Does anyone know if a student loan has to be paid off before a person can emigrate? My fiance has an outstanding student loan balance to the Thai Government of approximately $5,600 (170,000 Thai baht). She currently pays about $67 (2,000 baht) a month, which will take about another 7 years to pay off at this rate. I'm going to help her pay it off eventually, but cannot come up with the total outstanding balance at this time. I know it's not part of the I129f package but does the topic of unpaid student loans come up at any time during the Visa process?

1st post here so if it's in the wrong section can someone help me move it.

Thanks

[CBM 14]

I certainly hope not! I'm about 50K in student debt after a million years of university.... Canada doesn't care where I am, as long as I pay it on time each month.

Your fiance should be fine. Keep in mind, she most likely won't qualify for any repayment assistance (eg: not making her pay interest on the balance while in repayment or something like that) unless she is still a resident of the country in which she got her loan. That's how it works in Canada, anyway.

Just make your payments on time each month, and there should be no big deal.

Edited November 2, 2010 by CBM

[canadian_wife 1,822]

I came to the US with outstanding Canadian student loans. It wasn't an issue

Obviously she has to pay off the student loan

Good luck

[Aztec&Taino 144]

Does anyone know if a student loan has to be paid off before a person can emigrate? My fiance has an outstanding student loan balance to the Thai Government of approximately $5,600 (170,000 Thai baht). She currently pays about $67 (2,000 baht) a month, which will take about another 7 years to pay off at this rate. I'm going to help her pay it off eventually, but cannot come up with the total outstanding balance at this time. I know it's not part of the I129f package but does the topic of unpaid student loans come up at any time during the Visa process?

1st post here so if it's in the wrong section can someone help me move it.

Thanks

I think it depends on the country. In some cases, when a person owes money, the person gets on a list that prevents them from obtaining a passport and visa because of the danger of fleeing the country and never pay the debt back. I think it might also make a difference whether the student loan is public (made by the government) or private (by a private bank or loan company). It's too bad you don't have the money to give her so that she can pay off her debt because that would be the best solution, but the amount owed is no "chump change" either. I wonder if there is a way to find out the answer for sure without alerting the company owed of her intention to move to the US?

Best wishes!

[Vanessa in Texas 0]

I certainly hope not! I'm about 50K in student debt after a million years of university.... Canada doesn't care where I am, as long as I pay it on time each month.

Your fiance should be fine. Keep in mind, she most likely won't qualify for any repayment assistance (eg: not making her pay interest on the balance while in repayment or something like that) unless she is still a resident of the country in which she got her loan. That's how it works in Canada, anyway.

Just make your payments on time each month, and there should be no big deal.

Random question....What would happen if you don't pay off the student loan, and move?

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I have a government debt but unless I earn Aussie income over a certain amount I don't need to pay it back - ever.

So no issue for me I can leave the country or whatever. Of course interest will make it bigger over the years but that's the joy of the Aussie schooling system

[payxibka 10,045]

Does anyone know if a student loan has to be paid off before a person can emigrate? My fiance has an outstanding student loan balance to the Thai Government of approximately $5,600 (170,000 Thai baht). She currently pays about $67 (2,000 baht) a month, which will take about another 7 years to pay off at this rate. I'm going to help her pay it off eventually, but cannot come up with the total outstanding balance at this time. I know it's not part of the I129f package but does the topic of unpaid student loans come up at any time during the Visa process?

1st post here so if it's in the wrong section can someone help me move it.

Thanks

The US government does not care about an alien's student loan debt, why would they... despite what you may think, our government does not stick it's nose in every aspect of another sovereign government's "business"

The question would be more will the Thai government allow her to leave

Edited November 2, 2010 by payxibka

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

The US government could not possibly care less. The Thai government cannot stop the US government from issuing a visa unless they would cancel or suspend her passport. I doubt they would do that if the loan is being paid. For what reason? Can you imagine a country suspending the passports of all persons with student loans? For example, in the US your passport can be revoked for non-payment of child support, but only if you are behind in child support, not if it is being paid.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Random question....What would happen if you don't pay off the student loan, and move?

In the end, probably nothing. You will move to the US and establish new credit with an SSN. No one is going to come to the US and knock on your door to collect or bother to take you into US court to get a judgement. They can get a judegement against you in another country, maybe, but so what? I would be careful to see if the country can cancel your passport. Not that the US would care, once you have a green card you are good to go here, but it could be a difficulty if traveling outside the country until you are a US citizen. On the one hand, governments can get pretty nasty regarding debt, but rarely do so except for the case of child support in the US. The US government, for example, does not cancel passports for unpaid student loans. They WILL confiscate your tax returns (if any) for as long as it takes and they WILL refuse to give you any other government loans or guaranteed loans. They can even attach your SS payments when you retire. They WILL eventually get their money from you, but they will not cancel your passport.

Check with the government of your country on what the penalties are.

[Ning 619]

Random question....What would happen if you don't pay off the student loan, and move?

The Thai government will probably go after the money by making someone in her family pay it back. I dont think they will just forget it.

[AdamW 2]

Does anyone know if a student loan has to be paid off before a person can emigrate? My fiance has an outstanding student loan balance to the Thai Government of approximately $5,600 (170,000 Thai baht). She currently pays about $67 (2,000 baht) a month, which will take about another 7 years to pay off at this rate. I'm going to help her pay it off eventually, but cannot come up with the total outstanding balance at this time. I know it's not part of the I129f package but does the topic of unpaid student loans come up at any time during the Visa process?

1st post here so if it's in the wrong section can someone help me move it.

Thanks

Never comes up in the visa process. Don't worry about it.

[DaveTX 2]

Never comes up in the visa process. Don't worry about it.

Agreed. My wife has a student loan from university, it never came up. She makes a payment once a year-- around 15k baht. I think the load period was 6-7 years as well, though it's halfway through already.

[ZedbraGuy 6]

According to the Student Loan Company website for UK student loans, if you don't continue to make your payments there are 'severe concequences' but they don't say what they are.

[CBM 14]

In the end, probably nothing. You will move to the US and establish new credit with an SSN. No one is going to come to the US and knock on your door to collect or bother to take you into US court to get a judgement. They can get a judegement against you in another country, maybe, but so what? I would be careful to see if the country can cancel your passport. Not that the US would care, once you have a green card you are good to go here, but it could be a difficulty if traveling outside the country until you are a US citizen. On the one hand, governments can get pretty nasty regarding debt, but rarely do so except for the case of child support in the US. The US government, for example, does not cancel passports for unpaid student loans. They WILL confiscate your tax returns (if any) for as long as it takes and they WILL refuse to give you any other government loans or guaranteed loans. They can even attach your SS payments when you retire. They WILL eventually get their money from you, but they will not cancel your passport.

Check with the government of your country on what the penalties are.

It also depends on who co-signs your loan. When I was 18, I obvious didn't make enough money stirring coffee 16 hours a week to qualify for a huge student loan, so my parents had to cosign. This is true for the government loan as well as my bank student line of credit.

I don't pay = my parent's credit trashed & my parents are hunted down for the payments. It won't matter that I'll be married and in another country. They have their name on the form as a co-signer, and will be forced to pay up.

Vanessa, I suggest looking into that before skipping town on your payments!! (not saying you had planned to do that )

[Egg & Andy 0]

Agreed. My wife has a student loan from university, it never came up. She makes a payment once a year-- around 15k baht. I think the load period was 6-7 years as well, though it's halfway through already.

Thanks everyone for all the replies. As we plan on going back and forth between the US and Thailand I do plan on paying off her loan and once a year payments sound like a good way to go. She didn't mention any one cosigning on her loan, but I'll check that out with her tonight when I talk to her.