Holding a Student visa does not automatically stop you from getting a mortgage. The bigger questions are whether a lender will accept your visa, whether it can use your income, how much deposit you have and whether you are legally permitted to purchase the property you want.
Lenders may consider:
- How long remains on your Student visa
- Your employment and income
- Whether your income is sustainable within your visa work conditions
- Your deposit and loan-to-value ratio (LVR)
- Your Australian credit history
- Your living expenses and existing debts
- Whether you are applying alone or with a partner
- Your partner’s citizenship or residency status
- The type of property you intend to buy
- Whether your circumstances are likely to change before settlement
Some Student visa holders may be able to borrow up to 80% of the property’s value, while selected applicants may qualify at a higher LVR with certain lenders. Borrowing up to 90% can be possible in limited circumstances, but the lending criteria are significantly stricter.
If you are applying with an Australian citizen or permanent-resident partner, your options can be very different.
Please call us on 1300 889 743 or enquire online and one of our mortgage brokers will get back to you with some options.
What Are The New Student Visa Rules From 2 October 2026?
From 2 October 2026, Australia changed the rules around:
- Who can apply for another Student visa while in Australia
- Where some Student visa applicants must be when they apply
- Where they must be when the visa is granted
- When partners and dependent children can be included in a Student visa application
These are immigration rules, not home loan rules. They do not mean that someone who currently holds a valid Student visa can no longer apply for a home loan.
However, the changes can matter when you apply for a mortgage because lenders may consider how long your visa has left, whether your work rights are likely to continue and whether your visa circumstances could change before settlement.
Do Student Visa Holders Have To Apply For Their Next Student Visa Outside Australia?
In many cases, yes.
From 2 October 2026, someone who already holds a Student visa and wants another Student visa will generally need to be outside Australia when they apply and when the new visa is granted, unless an exemption applies.
Specified exceptions include certain:
- Defence and Foreign Affairs students
- School students
- Doctoral students
- Students affected by an education provider default
- Students requiring another visa to finish the principal course they have already started
- Students who meet specified course-progression requirements
For example, one exemption allows an eligible student to obtain additional time to finish the same principal course, generally where it will be completed within 12 months of the Confirmation of Enrolment end date. Another allows specified course progression, with the next course at a higher Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) level.
If you currently hold a Student visa as a dependant and now want to become the primary Student visa applicant, the new rules generally require the application to be made from outside Australia.
Why Could This Matter When Applying For A Home Loan?
If your visa expires soon, a lender may want to understand:
- When your current visa expires
- Whether you intend to apply for another visa
- Whether you can make that application in Australia
- Whether you may have to leave Australia
- Whether your employment will continue
- Whether your income can continue to be used
- Whether your visa could change before property settlement
If you are required to apply offshore, you must also be outside Australia when your Student visa is granted. Home Affairs also confirms that an offshore application does not provide a Bridging visa linked to that application.
That does not automatically prevent you from getting a home loan. It simply means that visa timing can become part of the mortgage strategy.
If your Student visa is approaching expiry, tell your mortgage broker before applying rather than waiting until the lender discovers it during assessment.
Important: Mortgage brokers provide credit assistance, not migration advice. Check your immigration position with the Department of Home Affairs or an appropriately qualified migration professional.
Can I Add My Partner Or Children To My Student Visa?
No, you cannot. The rules became more restrictive on 2 October 2026.
Under the new framework, family members generally need to be eligible to apply and, where included, must apply at the same time and in the same place as the primary Student visa applicant. The changes also remove the previous general pathway for adding a partner or child later through a subsequent-entrant Student visa application.
Exceptions apply to specified groups, including certain:
- Defence and Foreign Affairs students
- Pacific and ASEAN passport holders
- Foreign-government scholarship recipients
- Doctoral students
- Students affected by provider default
- Students who require a further visa to complete their existing principal course
- Existing secondary Student visa holders covered by transitional provisions
- Children born in Australia in specified circumstances
Why Does This Matter For A Home Loan?
It can matter where you expect to use your partner’s income to qualify for the mortgage.
Before using both incomes, the lender may need to understand each applicant’s:
- Current visa
- Work rights
- Employment
- Income
- Expected ability to remain in Australia
- Position on the home loan
- Position on the property title
Do not assume a partner can simply be added to your Student visa later. Establish each person’s actual visa position before relying on their future income in your home-buying plan.
How Much Can I Borrow On A Student Visa?
You can borrow between 80% – 95% of the property value on student visa.
As a general lending guide:
- Up to 80% LVR: May provide access to more temporary-resident lending options where your income and application are acceptable.
- Up to 90% LVR: May be available to selected borrowers with certain lenders, although requirements are stricter.
- Up to 95% LVR: May be possible in some mixed-residency applications, such as an eligible temporary resident applying with an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
A lender accepting your Student visa does not mean it will automatically lend you 80% or 90%.
Your actual borrowing power will also depend on your income, living expenses, credit card limits, personal loans, dependants, and the lender’s serviceability assessment.
How Much Deposit Do I Need For A Student Visa Home Loan?
A 20% deposit plus purchasing costs is a useful starting point for many Student visa borrowers.
For example, on an eligible $700,000 property:
- Property price: $700,000
- 80% home loan: $560,000
- 20% deposit: $140,000
You would then need additional funds for applicable purchasing costs.
These could include:
- Stamp duty
- Conveyancing or legal fees
- Building and pest inspections
- Loan fees
- Foreign-buyer stamp-duty surcharges where applicable
- Foreign-investment application fees where applicable
This means the cash you need to buy can be considerably more than the deposit alone.
Some Student visa holders may require more than a 20% deposit, while selected applicants may be able to borrow at an LVR above 80%.
How Many Hours Can I Work On A Student Visa?
Most Student visa holders can currently work up to 48 hours per fortnight while their course is in session.
They can generally work unlimited hours during scheduled course breaks. Different rules apply to some postgraduate research students; for example, students studying a master’s degree by research or doctoral degree can work more than 48 hours per fortnight after their course starts.
Does The Student Visa Work Limit Affect My Borrowing Power?
Yes, potentially.
A lender is interested not only in what you earned recently, but whether that income is legal, sustainable and likely to continue.
For example, earning unusually high income during a university break does not necessarily mean the lender will annualise that income and use all of it when calculating your borrowing capacity.
The lender may consider:
- Your contracted hours
- Regular working pattern
- Employment history
- Payslips
- Year-to-date income
- Whether your hours comply with your visa conditions
- Whether those hours can continue once study resumes
That makes income assessment particularly important for Student visa borrowers.
Can I Get A Home Loan If I Work Part-Time Or Casually?
Potentially.
Being part-time or casually employed does not automatically prevent you from getting a mortgage. The lender will generally want to establish whether your income is sufficiently stable and ongoing.
It may consider:
- How long you have been with your employer
- Your employment type
- Regular or guaranteed hours
- Recent payslips
- Year-to-date earnings
- Your employment contract
- Previous employment
- Whether your hours comply with your Student visa
Where your hours vary, an employer letter confirming your pay rate, minimum expected hours and ongoing employment can sometimes provide additional evidence for the lender.
What Documents Do I Need For A Student Visa Home Loan?
Requirements vary between lenders, but you may be asked for:
- Passport and identification
- Your current Student visa details
- Evidence of your visa conditions
- Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE)
- Recent payslips
- Employment contract
- Employer letter where required
- Bank statements showing salary payments
- Evidence of savings and your deposit
- Credit-card and loan statements
- Evidence of any other acceptable income
- Your partner’s citizenship, permanent-residency or visa evidence if applying jointly
- Documents supporting gifted funds from family where applicable
The lender is not simply checking whether you have a Student visa.
It is trying to establish whether the income used for the mortgage is acceptable and sustainable and whether you can afford the proposed repayments.
What If My Student Visa Expires Soon?
You may still have home-loan options, but visa expiry can significantly affect which lenders will consider you.
There is no single rule across Australian lenders saying every Student visa holder must have a particular number of months remaining.
A lender may instead consider:
- Your visa expiry date
- How much longer your course runs
- Your employment position
- Your plans after graduation
- Whether another visa application is expected
- Whether the next Student visa application must be made offshore
- Your partner’s residency status
- Your deposit
- The overall strength of your application
Why The October 2026 Rules Make Visa Expiry More Important
Previously, someone planning another period of study might have assumed they could simply apply for another Student visa while remaining in Australia.
That is no longer necessarily the case.
Many existing Student visa holders applying for another Student visa must now apply from outside Australia unless they qualify for an exemption. If required to apply offshore, they also need to be outside Australia when the visa is granted.
For someone buying property, that makes the relationship between these dates important:
Student visa expiry → home-loan approval → exchange → settlement → next visa application
Your mortgage broker should be aware of any upcoming visa changes before selecting a lender.
Can My Parents Give Me My Home Loan Deposit?
Yes, some lenders accept gifted deposit funds from parents.
The lender may ask for:
- A gift letter
- Evidence of the transfer
- Evidence showing where the money came from
- Confirmation that the money does not need to be repaid
Keeping a clear paper trail is particularly important where the funds are being transferred from overseas.
However, receiving a gifted deposit does not solve a borrowing-capacity shortfall. You still need enough acceptable income to meet the lender’s affordability assessment.
Can My Overseas Parents Help Me Qualify For The Loan?
This is different from receiving a cash gift.
If your parents want to borrow to purchase the property themselves, or you want to rely on overseas family income as part of the loan structure, the application may need to be treated as a different type of foreign-borrower or overseas-investor scenario.
Foreign-investment rules can also change depending on who owns the property.
It should therefore be assessed separately rather than assuming your parents can simply act as guarantors for a normal Student visa home loan.
Does Scholarship Income Count For A Home Loan?
Not always.
Scholarship or stipend income is not treated consistently across lenders.
Whether it can be included may depend on:
- Who pays the scholarship
- The amount
- How frequently it is paid
- How long payments will continue
- Whether the payment is guaranteed
- Whether the lender considers that type of income acceptable
Do not assume that receiving a $30,000 annual scholarship means the lender will add $30,000 to your assessable income.
A broker can check whether a lender will use the scholarship before calculating your borrowing power.
Can A Student Visa Holder Buy A House In Australia?
Potentially, but getting the home loan and being legally permitted to buy the property are two separate tests.
A lender may approve your finances while Australian foreign-investment rules prevent you from buying the particular property you have chosen.
Student visa holders are generally temporary residents and may be treated as foreign persons under Australia’s foreign-investment framework.
Can A Student Visa Holder Buy An Established Home?
Currently, foreign persons are generally prohibited from purchasing established dwellings between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2027, subject to limited exceptions.
This means an eligible Student visa holder buying alone may instead need to consider property such as:
- A qualifying new dwelling
- A qualifying near-new dwelling
- Vacant residential land for development
A lender cannot override Australia’s foreign investment rules simply because it is willing to provide a home loan.
Because exceptions exist, confirm your position before entering an unconditional property contract.
Do Student Visa Holders Need FIRB Approval?
Often, but not always.
Student visa holders are generally temporary residents, so Australia’s foreign-investment rules normally need to be considered before purchasing residential property.
However, there are exemptions.
For example, a foreign person purchasing residential property as joint tenants with their Australian-citizen spouse, Australian-permanent-resident spouse or an eligible New Zealand-citizen spouse is exempt from the residential foreign-investment application requirement.
The exemption does not apply in the same way if the property is purchased as tenants in common.
The relationship and ownership structure matter.
Seek appropriate legal advice about the proposed ownership arrangement before purchasing.
Can A Student Visa Holder Buy Land And Build A House?
Potentially.
Australia’s foreign investment framework generally allows foreign persons to apply to purchase vacant residential land for development, subject to the applicable approval and development conditions.
You then have two separate hurdles:
- Being permitted to acquire and develop the land under foreign-investment rules.
- Finding a lender that accepts your Student visa, income, deposit and proposed construction loan.
A successful foreign-investment application does not guarantee home-loan approval, and home-loan approval does not replace any foreign-investment requirements.
Will I Pay A Higher Home-Loan Interest Rate Because I Am On A Student Visa?
Not necessarily.
Pricing varies by lender and loan.
Some lenders may offer standard pricing where you meet their normal requirements, while others may restrict their product options for temporary residents or may not lend to Student visa holders at all.
Your rate can depend on:
- LVR
- Loan amount
- Property
- Employment
- Credit history
- Loan features
- Applicant structure
- Lender
For this reason, the lowest advertised home-loan rate is not always relevant.
A lender with a very low advertised rate may simply not accept your Student visa.
What Happens If My Visa Changes After Home Loan Pre-Approval?
Tell your mortgage broker as soon as possible.
A lender may need to reassess your application if, before settlement:
- Your Student visa expires
- You apply for another Student visa
- You move to another visa subclass
- You become a permanent resident
- Your partner’s visa changes
- Your work rights change
- Your employment changes
- You need to travel offshore for another Student visa application
Do not assume a pre-approval issued under one visa status will remain valid after your circumstances change.
Should I Buy On A Student Visa Or Wait Until I Get Permanent Residency?
It depends on your circumstances.
Permanent residency can materially change both the foreign-investment rules that apply to you and the range of home-loan options available.
Waiting may make sense if your current Student visa means:
- Very few lenders accept your application
- You cannot borrow enough
- Your employment income is limited
- Your visa expires soon
- You cannot buy the type of property you want
- You would need a very large deposit
Buying sooner may still be possible where you have strong income, sufficient savings, an eligible property and a lender willing to accept the application.
Rather than deciding based solely on your visa label, compare what is available now with what could realistically change after your visa status changes.
Australian permanent residency visa holders are generally exempt from the residential foreign investment approval requirement.
Find Out Whether Your Student Visa Fits Current Lender Policy
Getting a mortgage while studying in Australia can be difficult, but holding a Student visa does not automatically mean your application will be declined.
Before applying, find out:
- Whether a lender accepts your Student visa
- Whether it can use your income
- Whether your working hours fit your visa conditions
- How much time remains on your visa
- Whether another visa application may be required before settlement
- How much deposit you need
- Whether you can legally purchase the proposed property
- Whether applying jointly with your partner changes your options
Home Loan Experts can assess your visa, employment, income, deposit and proposed property against the lending policies available for temporary residents.
Please call us on 1300 889 743 or enquire online and one of our mortgage brokers will get back to you with some options.