Expat Kiwis with student debt have paid back more than $20m after being chased by the Government.



The Government today said its scheme targeting unpaid student debt, which started with a trial in Australia in October 2010, had returned $12.20 for every dollar spent.



Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said borrowers living overseas still had loans of more than $2.6b, of which $409 million was overdue for repayment.



But a pilot scheme chasing 1000 Australian-based borrowers had been expanded to cover 57,000 former students living largely in the UK and Australia.



"The median repayment time for overseas-based borrowers is 13.9 years, compared with 4.6 years for borrowers resident in New Zealand, so clearly this scheme is well targeted in terms of encouraging overseas-based graduates to address their obligations," Dunne said.



More than 6000 people had made repayments since the initiative began. Of those, 18 borrowers had paid back more than $50,000, he said.



Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce said the amount repaid showed the scheme had been worthwhile.



"The Government will continue to ramp up its debt collection efforts to ensure those overseas pay off their loans and help contribute to further investment in the tertiary education system that trained them," Joyce said.



He announced in the Budget that a data matching scheme involving Customs would pin down the location of debtors living overseas when they applied for a new passport.



"As we have said before, action will be taken against borrowers who deliberately choose to avoid their responsibilities."