Published 18 April 2013 · Last reviewed 18 April 2013 · Older article — see current rates

Mortgages criteria for foreign nationals on a Visa

Help To Buy and New Buy Mortgages
In my ongoing discussions with lenders I have been given further clarification on the position to lend to foreign nationals in regards to the Government run Help to Buy and New Buy schemes.

As it currently stands both schemes are not accepting applications from non-UK or EU residents. In other words if you are a foreign national you must have indefinite leave to stay in the UK to take advantage of the Help to Buy and New Buy schemes.

Mortgages For Applicants On VISAs
As a specialist foreign national broker in London we have access whole host of mortgages for applicants on a Visa these include first-time buyer, next time buyer and high net worth buy to let offering for applicants looking to buy in the United Kingdom.

Mortgages for foreign nationals are particularly tricky as there are many restrictions on the lenders product criteria mainly around loan to values, types of visas and source of the deposits. My experiences that many foreign nationals also look at buying new build properties which is also restricted by its own set of rules one of them being restrictions on loan to values of flats and houses.

Applicants are also subject to more stringent internal checks including background and money-laundering investigations.

One of the biggest issues for foreign nationals looking to get a mortgage is the fact that they don’t have much savings due to the lack of time spent living and working in the UK and most lenders also insist on an active UK bank account.

This is also emphasized by the fact that many of my current client lists tend to bank with large institutions such as HSBC who despite their international presence apply very strict criteria on foreign national lending. I have lost count of the times I have heard that they said “yes” initially only to backtrack weeks later after non refundable fees have been taken.

At Niche Advice we have access to the ‘whole of market’ and help visa customers obtain VISA mortgages without the fuss. To see if your VISA qualifies check out our quick reference guide to VISA mortgages below.

Quick guide to Visa Mortgages

MINIMUM DEPOSIT	ORIGINATING COUNTRY RESTRICTION	VISA RULES FOR MORTGAGES
10% deposit	Any originating country	Minimum 1 paying UK tax Minimum of 2 years left to run
15% deposit	Any originating country	Minimum 3.5 paying UK tax No minimum to run
25% deposit	Any originating country	No minimum paying UK tax No minimum left to run

Foreign National mortgages are a very specialist subject and we thoroughly recommend professional sought after to make sure the whole process takes place in an efficient manner.

Payam Azadi is a partner at Niche Advice Ltd who are Independent Financial and Mortgage Advisers in London.