Taking out a mortgage to buy a house on a skilled worker visa can seem an unlikely prospect when your time in the UK is limited to five years.
However, it is entirely possible to buy a house on a visa provided you use the right mortgage lender.
The UK has been facing a shortage of skilled workers since the Covid pandemic. Many businesses have struggled to fill essential roles, and the government updates its official skills shortage occupation list on a regular basis.
Roles such as engineers and web developers, vets and lab technicians are some of the many occupations currently in short supply. As a result, the skills shortage list is fairly extensive and demand for talented professionals from overseas is extremely high.
Not all skilled visa workers are young mobile professionals either. Many have established careers and there will be some that also have a family who they will want to bring with them when making the move.
Therefore, being able to take out a mortgage and buy a house will not only free up more properties in the private rental sector, it can also offer greater stability and security for your family’s living arrangements.
Helping skilled workers onto the property ladder
In 2023 alone, over 300,000 work visas were granted to overseas professionals, with nearly 70,000 skilled worker visas issued. Many of these people will work in the UK for at least five years. Many others are likely to extend their visa beyond the initial five-year period and settle in the UK permanently.
For many of these people, moving to a new country will come with a number of challenges, but finding a place to call home shouldn’t be one of them.
That’s why Darlington Building Society has improved its skilled worker visa mortgage offering to make it easier for those on this type of visa to secure a mortgage and buy a home with a smaller deposit.
If you’re on a skilled worker visa and have less than two years remaining, you can now qualify for a mortgage with Darlington as we have removed this restriction on all products up to 90% loan-to-value (LTV)
The two-year minimum time requirement remains in place if you would like to take out a 95% LTV mortgage. However, the minimum income requirement of £60,000 for sole applications and £90,000 for joint applications has been scrapped.
This offers greater flexibility for those on varied income levels and we recently approved a mortgage for a skilled worker who wanted to use bank work as a source of income. This client had previously been turned down by a number of other mortgage lenders.
Credit searching vs credit scoring
If you haven’t been in the UK for that long, choosing a mortgage lender that credit searches rather than credit scores can make all the difference to the success of your mortgage application.
Building up a credit score can take a long time and many lenders have a target ratio borrowers need to meet to successfully secure a mortgage. In contrast, a credit search is simply a request for information from a credit reference agency.
So, if you are young or haven’t been in the country that long, getting a mortgage could be difficult as you would have a very limited track record. This was a challenge recently faced by one skilled worker visa holder and their partner on a spousal visa who hadn’t been in the UK for very long.
The couple had a 10% deposit to buy a home but were failing to get a mortgage due to lenders’ credit scoring. As Darlington Building Society assesses potential borrowers by credit searching, we were able to help the couple get a mortgage to buy their first UK home.
If you’re on a skilled worker visa and considering buying a home in the UK, exploring your mortgage options with a lender that understands your unique circumstances could make all the difference.
Finding a lender that offers greater flexibility around restrictions on visa duration, minimum income thresholds and focuses on credit searches rather than scores can help you achieve your goal.
Homeownership shouldn’t be out of reach simply because of visa status – it should be an achievable goal for those committed to building a future in the UK.
Chris Blewitt is head of mortgage distribution at Darlington Building Society
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