Australian Expat Home Loan: Lender Requirements

An Australian expat home loan lends to an Australian citizen or permanent resident who lives and earns overseas, and only some lenders accept that applicant. NAB’s home loan pages, as at 28 September 2026, exclude applicants who live overseas whatever their citizenship. La Trobe Financial and Bluestone publish expat loans capped at an 80% loan-to-value ratio (LVR).

So the first job on an expat file is finding the lenders that take your client at all. After that, the country they live in, the currency they’re paid in and the property’s intended use narrow the list. The steps below take an expat home loan from the first enquiry to settlement.

Establish the Applicant

Confirm three facts before you look at lenders: your client’s citizenship, the country they live in and how they’ll use the property. Each one changes which lenders and products can take the file.

Citizenship and Residence

Start with the passport, because an Australian citizen living overseas is the core expat applicant. La Trobe Financial’s Expatriate Loan page, as at October 2026, describes its borrowers in those terms. A permanent resident living abroad can also apply where the lender’s expat policy names permanent residents, so check each policy for that wording.

Record the client’s current country of residence and how long they’ve lived there. Check that the lender accepts the client’s country of residence. Bluestone’s expat broker page, as at October 2026, excludes borrowers living in countries under Australian sanctions administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

A client on a temporary visa, or a foreign national without Australian residency, isn’t an expat applicant. Their rules sit on the temporary resident mortgage guide and the non-resident home loan guide.

Government Approval

An Australian citizen living abroad doesn’t need foreign investment approval to buy a home. The Foreign Investment Review Board’s (FIRB) residential guidance, as at October 2026, lists Australian citizens living abroad and Australian permanent residency visa holders as needing no application.

The same guidance exempts a spouse buying as joint tenants with an Australian citizen or permanent resident spouse. A foreign co-buyer who isn’t a spouse, or who buys as tenants in common, falls outside that exemption. Foreign investors are generally barred from buying established dwellings from 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029, and the FIRB approval guide covers that process.

Settle this before you shortlist lenders. NAB’s pages, as at 28 September 2026, exclude applicants who need FIRB approval as well as applicants who live overseas.

Intended Property Use

Ask whether your client will live in the property when they return, rent it out while they’re away or keep it as a long-term investment. Some expat products are written for investment property, such as Bluestone’s Expat Investment loan. A client buying a home to move into next year needs a lender whose expat policy covers that purpose.

Compare Lender Routes

Lenders treat an Australian citizen earning and living abroad in one of three ways. Some exclude them. Some place them outside standard policy, and some publish a dedicated expat product with its own country, currency and LVR limits.

How Lenders Treat Expat Applicants

Macquarie’s 10 September 2026 credit guidelines show the middle route. Its residency matrix places an Australian citizen or permanent resident without a current Australian residential address outside guidelines, so standard Macquarie policy doesn’t take an expat.

The table summarises how four lenders treat an expat applicant. It uses NAB’s pages as at 28 September 2026, Macquarie’s 10 September 2026 guidelines and La Trobe Financial’s and Bluestone’s pages as at October 2026.

Lender	Expat applicants accepted	Maximum LVR	Limits to check
NAB	None. Its home loans exclude applicants who live overseas, regardless of citizenship	Not applicable	Also excludes applicants who need FIRB approval
Macquarie	Outside guidelines when no applicant holds a current Australian residential address	Not applicable under standard policy	Residency matrix in its credit guidelines
La Trobe Financial	Australian citizens working or living abroad, through its Expatriate Loan	80% up to $5 million, 75% up to $10 million	Fully verified income only. Purchase, refinance and cash-out allowed
Bluestone	Australians living overseas, through its Expat Investment loan	80%, up to a $3 million loan	Over 150 countries of residence, excluding DFAT-sanctioned countries. Needs an Australian-based representative

None of these limits is a market norm. Each lender sets its own residency, country and LVR rules. Other banks and non-banks write expat loans under different settings.

Employment, Locations and Currency

Next, check that the lender accepts your client’s job and the country it’s in. Bluestone’s expat page accepts pay as you go (PAYG), self-employed and variable foreign income. La Trobe Financial’s Expatriate Loan takes fully verified income only, so a low-documentation file doesn’t fit there.

The pay currency matters as much as the country, so check it against each lender’s accepted currencies. Bluestone uses up to 90% of net foreign income and calculates no extra Australian tax on it.

Building the Shortlist

Put one set of facts to every lender: employment, currency, country of residence, property use and the LVR the client needs. A change in any one of them can remove a lender, so keep the facts the same across every comparison.

In a fictional example, Priya is an Australian citizen working for a bank in Singapore, paid in Singapore dollars, buying a Brisbane investment unit at 80% LVR. NAB and standard Macquarie policy drop out on residence, while La Trobe Financial’s Expatriate Loan and Bluestone’s Expat Investment loan both allow 80%. The next check is whether each accepts Singapore dollar income.

If Priya wanted 90% LVR instead, neither published product would fit, because both cap at 80%. That’s why the LVR belongs in the first question you ask each lender.

To run that comparison across lenders at once, Bulma’s Policy Advisor checks one expat question against 52+ lenders’ policies. Each answer quotes the policy wording it relied on, so you can keep it with the file notes.

Collect Offshore Evidence

An expat file needs proof of identity, overseas income and tax status, with any document signed or copied abroad certified in a form the lender accepts. Collect the full set before lodgement, because replacing a document means another certification overseas.

Identity and Residence Documents

Ask for the client’s Australian passport or, for a permanent resident, the passport and visa grant. Add proof of the overseas address and the right to live and work in that country, such as a residence permit or employment visa. The verification of identity guide explains how lenders confirm who the borrower is.

Income and Tax Documents

Overseas income is verified with the employer’s documents and the host country’s tax records. Expect recent payslips, the employment contract, an employment letter and bank statements showing the salary paid in.

Check the client’s Australian tax position as well. The Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) tax residency guidance shows a person living overseas can still be an Australian resident for tax, and residents declare their overseas income. A client in that position may have Australian tax returns that include the foreign salary.

Certifying Documents Abroad

A document certified overseas has to meet the lender’s certification rules. Australian consular officers overseas can witness signatures, take declarations and certify copies, according to Smartraveller’s notarial services page.

Each of those consular services costs $90 under the fee schedule from 1 January 2026. A local notary public is the other usual route. In countries that belong to the Apostille Convention, an Apostille certificate then authenticates the notarised document.

Ask the lender which certifiers it accepts before your client books an appointment. A statutory declaration signed abroad needs a witness allowed to take it there.

Currency Conversion Detail

Convert income only with the lender’s own rules. The foreign income home loan guide explains the exchange rate, currency list and reduction each lender applies, so use it for the serviceability figure.

Coordinate the Application

Plan the signing, approval, valuation and settlement steps before you lodge. Each step that needs your client can stall when they’re in another time zone.

Issues to Resolve Early

• Time zones: agree on a regular call window and a deadline for returning documents, so a lender’s request doesn’t sit unanswered overnight.
• Witnessing: confirm whether the lender accepts electronic signing for the loan documents. If it needs a witnessed paper signature, find out which overseas witnesses it accepts.
• Government approval: confirm in writing that no co-buyer needs FIRB approval before you lodge.
• Valuation: arrange access through an agent or family member, since the client can’t let the valuer in. Lenders cap a valuation’s age, and Macquarie’s 10 September 2026 guidelines want one no older than 90 days at submission.
• Settlement: decide who acts for the client in Australia. As at October 2026, Bluestone’s expat product needs an Australian-based representative, and the home loan settlement guide explains the settlement steps.

Funds to complete also need planning. An international transfer can take days to reach an Australian account, so move the money well before settlement.

What an Expat Mortgage Broker Handles

An Australian expat mortgage broker shortlists the lenders that accept the client’s country and currency, then runs the file through to settlement. On a typical expat file, that work includes these tasks.

1. Confirm citizenship, residence, FIRB position and property use.
2. Shortlist lenders by country, currency, employment type and LVR.
3. Send the client a document list that matches the chosen lender’s rules.
4. Tell the client which certifiers the lender accepts, and check every certified copy on arrival.
5. Arrange remote signing, or a witnessed signing at a consulate or notary.
6. Coordinate the valuation, the Australian representative and settlement funds.

Start with the lender shortlist on the next expat enquiry. Once your client’s country, currency and LVR are fixed, the documents and signing arrangements follow the chosen lender’s rules.