Can You Get a Home Loan on a Temporary Visa?

Yes — but not from every lender, not on the same terms as citizens, and not without extra approvals. Thousands of 482 (Skills in Demand), 485 (Temporary Graduate) and partner-visa holders buy Australian property every year. The difference is that the path runs through a smaller set of lenders and an extra layer of government approval, which is exactly where a broker who handles these cases weekly earns their keep.

The Three Hurdles for Temporary Residents

1. Foreign investment approval. Temporary residents generally need approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) before buying residential property, and are typically limited to one established dwelling to live in (or new dwellings/vacant land). The application carries a government fee that scales with the property price. Permanent residents and citizens are exempt. Always confirm current rules at firb.gov.au before contracts are signed — penalties for skipping this step are serious. 2. Lender appetite. Not all lenders accept temporary visa income, and those that do apply their own visa criteria — minimum remaining visa duration, occupation, and time employed in Australia all matter. This is the core reason broker knowledge matters here: the lender panel for a 482 holder is a curated subset, not the full market. 3. Deposit size. Where a citizen might borrow 95% of a property''s value, temporary visa holders are commonly capped at 80% — meaning a 20% deposit plus costs. Some lenders extend higher ratios for strong applicants in certain occupations, or where one partner is a citizen or permanent resident. Lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) treatment also varies.

What Changes When You Get PR

Permanent residency transforms your position: FIRB approval is no longer required, the full lender market opens, higher loan-to-value ratios become available, and first-home schemes become accessible (most federal and state schemes require PR or citizenship — check each scheme''s current rules). If your PR grant is months away, it is worth modelling both scenarios: buying now as a temporary resident versus waiting for PR terms.

Buying With a Citizen or PR Partner

A common and often advantageous structure: where one buyer is a citizen or permanent resident, some lenders treat the application more like a standard one, and FIRB treatment can differ depending on how title is held. This is a structuring question worth professional advice — both credit advice from your broker and legal advice from your conveyancer.

Questions to Ask a Broker Before Engaging

  • How many temporary-visa applications have you settled in the past year, and on which visa subclasses?
  • Which lenders on your panel accept my visa type, and at what maximum LVR?
  • How is FIRB handled — do you coordinate it, and what does it cost at my price point?
  • If my PR is likely within 12 months, what does the wait-versus-buy comparison look like?
A broker who answers these fluently, with recent examples, is genuinely in this market. One who hesitates is learning on your application.

The Bottom Line

Visa-holder lending is a specialist corner of the mortgage market where lender selection matters more than rate-shopping. The right broker knows which three lenders will say yes to your subclass and occupation before you apply — protecting both your deposit and your credit file from failed applications.

This article is general information only — not credit assistance, credit advice or financial advice. Rules, fees and lender policies change; verify current requirements with FIRB, your lender or a licensed professional before acting.