Table of Contents
- Buying together when one of you holds a visa
- How the spouse FIRB exemption actually works
- Joint tenants vs tenants in common (only one qualifies)
- Which partners qualify: Australian, PR or NZ citizen
- What you can borrow together (up to around 95%)
- What to bring to your Lending Assessment
- Frequently Asked Questions
If you’re on a temporary visa and you’ve read that Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) rules put a home beyond you, that advice was almost certainly written for a person buying alone. Buying with a partner changes which rules apply to you.
The FIRB spouse exemption is the rule that makes the difference. When a foreign person buys as joint tenants with a spouse or de facto partner who is an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident or a New Zealand citizen, the purchase is usually exempt from FIRB approval and its fees. That covers any home, new or established, with no application to lodge and no fee to pay. Couples in this position can often borrow up to around 95% of the price.
This article covers how the exemption works, why it applies to joint tenants and not tenants in common, which partners qualify, what the two of you can borrow together, and what to have ready before you make an offer.
Buying as joint tenants with an eligible partner usually takes FIRB approval off the table.
- An eligible partner is an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident or a New Zealand citizen, usually one living in Australia on a 444 Special Category Visa.
- Buy as joint tenants, not tenants in common. Only joint tenancy qualifies, and your conveyancer sets it up.
- With the exemption, the established-dwelling ban doesn’t apply, so any home is open to you, usually at up to around 95% of the price.
- It usually covers de facto partners as well as married couples, where the relationship meets the legal definition.
Buying together when one of you holds a visa
Most of the rules that make buying feel hard are written for a foreign person buying alone. On a temporary visa, on your own, you need FIRB approval before you sign, you pay the application fee, and the established-dwelling ban currently in place means you generally can’t buy a home that has been lived in before. A new build or vacant land is still open to you, and for plenty of people a new home now is a better outcome than waiting years for permanent residency.
Buying with an eligible partner puts you in a different category. The purchase is treated as a couple buying a home to live in rather than a foreign person acquiring Australian property, and that is the reason the exemption exists.
Both routes are real, and cost and timing decide between them. This article stays with the partner route because, for most couples we work with, it is the simpler and lower-cost way into a home. Our FIRB approvals guide sets out the solo path and the fees that go with it, if that’s the comparison you need.
How the spouse FIRB exemption actually works
Start from the default position. A foreign person, which includes most temporary visa holders living and working in Australia, needs FIRB approval to buy residential property, and that approval carries an application fee paid to the ATO. The fee is indexed every 1 July, and the current schedule is published on foreigninvestment.gov.au. On top of the fee, the current rules stop a foreign person buying an established dwelling at all.
The spouse exemption sets that default aside. Buy as joint tenants with a spouse or partner who is an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen, and the purchase is usually exempt from FIRB approval and its fees. Two things follow from that.
- No FIRB application fee. The fee a solo buyer pays doesn’t apply to an exempt purchase.
- No established-dwelling ban. The ban attaches to purchases that need approval. When the approval requirement falls away, so does the ban, and an established home is open to you.
The exemption usually covers de facto partners as well as married couples, provided the relationship meets the legal definition of a spouse or de facto partner. That definition has specific tests, and it’s a legal question rather than a lending one, so confirm your own position with us before you sign rather than assuming it either way.
Joint tenants vs tenants in common (only one qualifies)
There are two ways for two people to hold a home together, and only one of them qualifies for the spouse exemption. This is the detail that catches couples out.
| How you hold ownership | What it means | FIRB spouse exemption? |
|---|---|---|
| Joint tenants | You both own the whole home together, as one. If one partner dies, the other automatically owns all of it. | Usually qualifies |
| Tenants in common | You each own a separate share, and the shares can be unequal. Each of you can leave your share to whoever you choose. | Does not qualify |
A straight 50/50 tenants-in-common split doesn’t qualify either. The exemption is written around joint tenancy, so the title has to be set up that way from the start. You don’t have to work this out yourself. Your conveyancer or solicitor prepares the title when they prepare the purchase, and they’ll set it up as joint tenants if they know you’re relying on the exemption.
Tell your conveyancer before contracts are drawn up that you’re relying on the spouse exemption, so the title is prepared as joint tenants. Paperwork that defaults to tenants in common can cost you the exemption, and it is far easier to raise before exchange than after.
Which partners qualify: Australian, PR or NZ citizen
The exemption turns on your partner’s status. Three statuses qualify, and each carries a detail worth checking.
| Your partner is | Exemption usually applies? | The detail that matters |
|---|---|---|
| Australian citizen | Usually yes | The most straightforward case. As joint tenants you are usually exempt from FIRB approval and its fee. |
| Australian permanent resident | Usually yes | Permanent residents are treated like citizens for FIRB. The PR has to be granted, though. A permanent residency application that is still being processed doesn’t count yet. |
| New Zealand citizen (444 SCV) | Usually yes | A New Zealand citizen living in Australia is usually on a 444 Special Category Visa and is treated like a resident for FIRB. If you hold a 461 visa, you are the partner of a New Zealand citizen, so there is usually no FIRB approval to deal with. |
The word that repeats across all three rows is usually. The exemption is the general rule for eligible couples rather than a promise, and your circumstances have their own details. Confirming which status your partner holds, and that it is granted rather than pending, is one of the first things we check.
A FIRB exemption and state stamp duty are two different things. Being exempt from FIRB approval doesn’t automatically remove a state foreign-purchaser stamp-duty surcharge. Whether one applies depends on the state and on your situation, and there may be savings that buyers in your position often miss, so we go through what applies to your purchase in a Lending Assessment rather than guess at it here.
What you can borrow together (up to around 95%)
With an established home open to you, the next question is the loan. A couple buying with an eligible partner is usually assessed like any other owner-occupier couple, which often means borrowing up to around 95% of the price. That percentage is the loan-to-value ratio (LVR), the share of the price the lender funds, and lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) usually applies above 80%.
Compare that with a solo temporary-visa buyer, who tends to need a larger deposit and is limited to a new build. The partner route is the basis of most of the partner visa home loans we arrange: a wider choice of homes and a smaller deposit at the same time.
The FIRB side is rarely the hard part. The work is finding a lender comfortable with your visa, your income and your deposit, then lining up the ownership and the loan so they don’t contradict each other.
We start with our VSL Matrix™ (Visa × Situation × Lender), the process we use to match a visa holder’s circumstances to the lenders most likely to approve before you apply. From there the process is Match / Apply / Purchase: match the right lenders to your situation, apply with the strongest version of your case, and get you through to purchase. We work across 31+ lenders, so there is usually an option when the first bank said no. Our service costs you nothing, because the lender pays us, not you.
What to bring to your Lending Assessment
You don’t need anything formal for the first conversation. A rough picture is enough for us to tell you whether the partner route works for you and what it would look like. Five things help.
- Your visa details. The subclass you hold and roughly where you are in the process.
- Your partner’s status. Citizen, permanent resident or New Zealand citizen, and whether it is granted rather than pending.
- Both incomes and your deposit. Rough figures are enough to read your borrowing power as a couple.
- Any lender knock-backs. If a bank has already said no, tell us which one and why, so we don’t walk the same path twice.
- Your timing. Whether you’re ready to buy now or lining things up for later in the year.
From there we confirm the exemption applies, match you to the lenders behind our partner visa home loans, and flag what to sort with your conveyancer, including setting the title up as joint tenants, so nothing gets missed.
If you’d like to confirm where the two of you stand before you make an offer, that is a short call rather than a commitment.
30 minutes, and we’ll tell you straight if we can help. Book a Lending Assessment at no cost or obligation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need FIRB approval if my partner is an Australian citizen?
Usually no. A foreign person who buys as joint tenants with a spouse or partner who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or New Zealand citizen on a Special Category Visa is usually exempt from FIRB approval and its fee. The exemption applies to joint tenants, not tenants in common.
Does the exemption work for de facto partners, or only married couples?
It usually covers de facto partners as well as married spouses, as long as the relationship meets the legal definition. That definition has specific tests, so confirm your situation with us before you sign rather than assuming it either way.
Does my partner have to be on the title?
Yes. The exemption works because you buy the home together as joint tenants, so both partners are on the title. If only the visa holder is on the title, the purchase is treated as a foreign person buying alone, and the usual FIRB rules apply.
Can we buy an established home this way?
Usually yes. The established-dwelling ban that applies to a foreign person buying alone doesn’t apply when the spouse exemption does. As joint tenants with an eligible partner, an established home is usually open to you, at up to around 95% of the price.
Does the exemption apply if my partner is a permanent resident, not a citizen?
Usually yes. Australian permanent residents are treated like citizens for FIRB, so buying as joint tenants with a PR partner is usually exempt. The PR has to be granted, though. A permanent residency application that is still being processed doesn’t count yet.
I’m on a 461 visa. Do we need FIRB approval?
Usually no. If you hold a 461 visa, you are the partner of a New Zealand citizen, who is normally in Australia on a 444 Special Category Visa, so there is usually no FIRB approval to deal with when you buy together as joint tenants.
Do we still pay the foreign-buyer stamp duty surcharge?
The FIRB exemption and state stamp duty are two separate things. Being exempt from FIRB approval doesn’t automatically remove a state foreign-purchaser surcharge, and how it applies depends on the state and your situation. We go through what applies to your purchase in a Lending Assessment.
Does my partner have to be on the home loan as well?
For a joint purchase, most lenders will want both partners on the loan, but that is a serviceability question that varies by lender, not a FIRB one. Part of what we do is match you to lenders comfortable with your visa and your situation, so the loan side lines up with the ownership side.
This article is general information, not personal, legal or tax advice. FIRB rules and their details change, and every couple’s situation is different, so confirm where you stand with MAP Home Loans or check the current rules with the ATO before you sign.
