Since my wife is not a citizen, will both of our incomes be assessed when applying for a home loan?

Any general questions you might have in regards to loans and finance.
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Otto Dargan
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Re: Since my wife is not a citizen, will both of our incomes be assessed when applying for a home loan?

Post by Otto Dargan »

Hello Klaus.

Thank you for reaching out to us and welcome to the forums.

You can apply for a partner visa mortgage, which is specially designed for couples, where one partner is on a provisional visa (subclass 309) and married to an Australian citizen.

While most lenders tend to ignore your wife's income if she is not an Australian citizen or a permanent resident, this is a grey area policy. We have approved clients under the following situations:
  • Partner has a valid visa in Australia
  • Partner is currently living in Australia
  • Partner has ties to Australia (eg a family member living in Australia).
  • You have children together
  • You have been married or in a de facto relationship for two years.
  • The Australian citizen or PR holder is the main income earner.
Since this is your first home, you might qualify for First Home Owners Grant (FHOG) which could help increase the size of your deposit.

If buying jointly with an Australian then additional stamp duty may be charged on the foreigner's portion only. However, if you’re buying a home in NSW, then you might not have to pay foreigner surcharge since your wife is on 309 visa and has been in Australia for more than 200 days.

Talk to our award-winning specialist mortgage broker on 1300 889 743 or fill in our free assessment form to find out if you qualify for a partner visa home loan.
Otto Dargan
Mortgage Broker
P | 1300 889 743
Home Loan Experts

User avatar
Otto Dargan
Mortgage Specialist
Posts: 7730
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:55 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: Since my wife is not a citizen, will both of our incomes be assessed when applying for a home loan?

Post by Otto Dargan »

Hi Klaus,

Different states and territories charge different stamp duty.

For NSW, it applies when:
  • You’re a foreign citizen or temporary resident (including a 457 visa holder). Exception is 444 visa holders.
  • You’re buying a residential property in the state of NSW. The surcharge doesn’t apply to commercial property.
  • You’re applying with a partner that doesn’t have Australian citizenship, PR or the special NZ visa, in which case they will have to pay stamp duty but only on their portion.
  • You signed the Contract of Sale after 21 June 2016, although this is only for the stamp duty surcharge – a land tax surcharge also applies to purchases made from 1 January 2017.
For instance, if you and your wife are looking to buy a home in NSW valued at $745,000, then you might need to pay additional stamp duty on property, mortgage registration and transfer fee, which would amount to $88,557.

Please use our foreigner stamp duty calculator for more information.

Cheers,
Otto Dargan
Mortgage Broker
P | 1300 889 743
Home Loan Experts

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