US Banker on Skilled Worker Visa Secures £900k Mortgage on £1.2m Purchase Using USD Bonus
An American vice president at a US-headquartered investment bank, eighteen months into a London posting on a Skilled Worker visa, needed £900,000 for a £1.2m house in South West London. Sterling salary alone fell £135,000 short, and the lenders most open to his visa were often the ones unable to use a US dollar bonus. A large international bank whose criteria let income override residency recognised £238,400 of income, and the purchase completed at 75% loan to value.
Client Snapshot
£1,200,000
Purchase price
£900,000
Mortgage amount
75%
Loan to Value (LTV)
Vice President, leveraged finance, US-headquartered investment bank; US national on a Skilled Worker visa, eighteen months in the UK · Three-bedroom 1930s semi-detached house, Wandsworth, South West London · £300,000 deposit, held in US-dollar savings · Capital and interest over 30 years, five-year fixed rate
Key constraint
No indefinite leave to remain (ILR), and a bonus paid in dollars; few lenders were comfortable with both
Context
Eighteen months into a London posting, the client's bank confirmed his role as permanent. That settled it: the family had been renting in Wandsworth on the assumption that New York might call them back, and now they were staying. The client, an American vice president in leveraged finance in his mid-thirties, had moved over on a Skilled Worker visa with his wife and their two-year-old daughter. His wife had restarted her graphic design practice in London, but with under a year of trading history her self-employed income was unlikely to be counted, so the application went in his sole name. They agreed £1.2m on a three-bedroom 1930s semi a short walk from the flat they were renting. The £300,000 deposit sat in US-dollar savings from his New York years, and nothing about his ability to pay was in doubt: a £170,000 base salary through UK payroll, plus a discretionary annual bonus paid in US dollars by the group's US parent, $200,000 at the latest award. This is a profile we see constantly across investment banking; the question was which UK lenders could use all of it.
The Challenge
The visa came first. Without indefinite leave to remain, much of the mainstream panel restricts what it may lend. LTV caps can sit at 75% without settled status, visa routes commonly carry minimum income floors of £50,000 to £75,000 of sole income, and there are rules on minimum UK residence and on time remaining on the visa. At 75% LTV the caps themselves were survivable, but each lender applies its own combination of gates, and some may want a longer UK track record than eighteen months.
Our guide to visa and foreign national mortgages → covers these criteria in detail.
The bonus was the sharper problem. A significant part of the panel may not accept non-sterling income at all, and at those lenders his usable income stopped at the £170,000 salary. At 4.5 times income, £170,000 supports £765,000 of borrowing, £135,000 short of the £900,000 required. Among lenders that may accept US dollar income, treatment varies widely: haircuts to allow for exchange-rate movement can range from nil to around 25%, and a discretionary bonus attracts its own percentage and averaging rules before any currency adjustment is applied.
See our guide to foreign currency income →
Neither constraint was unusual on its own. The difficulty was the overlap: lenders at ease with Skilled Worker visa applicants were frequently the ones with no appetite for dollar income, and lenders happy to convert a dollar bonus had their own residency gates. As a US national he also fell within the additional policy layer some lenders may apply to US persons. Most of the options on our panel were ruled out, leaving a short list that could take the visa and the dollar income together.
Lender Strategy
The strongest fit was a large international bank whose visa criteria run on income. Under its rules, an applicant without permanent residency may borrow at up to 85% LTV where sole income clears a defined threshold, alongside around twelve months' UK residence. The threshold sits well below City compensation, so in effect high income can substitute for a short address history. The client was eighteen months into his UK residence with income several times the threshold, and at 75% LTV he was well inside the 85% ceiling.
The bank read both currencies. The sterling salary of £170,000 came through UK payroll as standard. The bonus was assessed as discretionary variable income: the latest two awards of $200,000 and $180,000 average $190,000, converted at the $1.25-to-£1 rate applied at assessment to £152,000, discounted by 10% to allow for exchange-rate movement to £136,800, of which 50% was taken as usable income: £68,400. Recognised income became £170,000 plus £68,400, a total of £238,400, and the £900,000 loan sat at roughly 3.8 times that figure. The bank's affordability model at 4.5 times recognised income could have supported around £1,072,000.
Worked example, reading the same income
US banker on a Skilled Worker visa: £170,000 salary, $200,000 latest bonus
The same income, assessed with and without the dollar bonus.
- Base salary (sterling, UK payroll)
- £170,000
- Bonus, latest award (USD)
- $200,000
- Bonus, year before (USD)
- $180,000
- Two-year bonus average
- $190,000
- Usable bonus (converted at $1.25/£1, −10%, ×50%)
- £68,400
- Buying at
- 75% Loan to Value (LTV)
£170,000 × 4.5 = £765,000, which is £135,000 short of the £900,000 required. The dollar bonus is not counted.
($200,000 + $180,000) / 2 = $190,000; converted at $1.25 to £1 = £152,000; less 10% for exchange-rate movement = £136,800; 50% used = £68,400. £170,000 + £68,400 = £238,400 recognised; £900,000 sits at roughly 3.8×, and 4.5× could support around £1,072,000.
The same income, read two ways. The gap between £765,000 and £900,000 is the dollar bonus being read at all.
Please note: These figures are for illustrative purposes only. The actual amount you can borrow will depend upon your personal circumstances, credit profile, LTV, the lender's individual criteria and a full affordability assessment.
Most of the packaging work was evidential. The bonus history was documented with the US award letters and the payslips showing each payment in dollars. A letter from the bank's HR team confirmed that the London posting was permanent, that visa sponsorship ran for a further three and a half years, and set out the history of the bonus plan. Eighteen months of UK address history generates a thin credit file, so the application also carried twelve months of UK bank statements and a clean rental payment record. The deposit's route from US savings to a sterling completion account was mapped in advance, and the currency conversion was documented before any underwriter asked.
For how bonus income is assessed more generally, see our guide to bonus income →
The Result
The Result
A £900,000 mortgage agreed at 75% LTV, the dollar bonus read alongside the sterling salary
£900,000
Loan
75%
LTV
£238,400
Recognised income (sterling salary + USD bonus)
Roughly 3.8×
Income multiple
First call
Day 0
Decision in Principle (DIP)
3 working days
Full mortgage offer
4 weeks
Completion
9 weeks after offer
A £900,000 mortgage was agreed at 75% LTV on a five-year fixed rate, at pricing in line with mainstream rates at this loan size and LTV. The structure was capital and interest over a 30-year term: the sterling salary covers the monthly payments on its own, the long term keeps them comfortable, and the client plans to make lump-sum overpayments from future bonus rounds as they convert. A Decision in Principle (DIP) came within three working days of the first call. The offer took four weeks, most of the extra time going on the currency evidence, and completion followed nine weeks later, a month before the family's rental agreement ran out. The client did not need ILR, and did not need to wait to build a longer UK history.
Why This Matters for Similar Clients
American bankers arriving in London tend to assume the visa is the obstacle and the bonus is the asset. It is often the reverse. At City income levels, visa criteria at several lenders clear quickly, because the income floors sit well below City compensation. The currency of the bonus is what determines which lenders can use the income at all. The work is in the mapping: knowing which lenders may read a dollar bonus, at what discount, and which of those are also comfortable with a Skilled Worker visa and eighteen months of UK history.
What We Can Do for You
- Map visa criteria across the panel before anything is submitted, so your application only goes to lenders whose LTV caps, income floors and residence rules it clears
- Identify the lenders that may accept a US dollar bonus, and model the conversion, haircut and averaging arithmetic in advance
- Package US evidence, from award letters and dollar payslips to employer confirmation of a permanent London posting, so an underwriter can trace every figure first time
- Structure the purchase around your position as it stands, rather than assuming you must wait for ILR
Read our full guide to investment banking mortgages →
FAQs
Potentially, yes. Many lenders may lend to Skilled Worker visa holders without indefinite leave to remain, though most apply extra conditions on LTV, minimum income, UK residence and time remaining on the visa. The combinations differ from lender to lender, so most of the work is in choosing where to apply.
Not necessarily. Some lenders may require settled status for their higher LTV bands, but several operate visa routes at 75% LTV and above, and a small number may lend at up to 85% LTV where income clears a defined threshold.
At some lenders, yes. Lenders that accept foreign currency income may convert the bonus to sterling and apply a haircut, anywhere from nil to around 25%, before their standard bonus percentage and averaging rules. Other lenders may not accept non-sterling income at all.
Commonly around 50% of a two-year average for a discretionary annual bonus, though treatment varies: some lenders may use more where the bonus is regular or contractually guaranteed, and the percentage is applied after any currency adjustment.
It narrows the field. Some lenders may want a longer UK track record, while others require only around twelve months' residence where income is strong; a thin UK credit file can be supported with bank statements and a rental payment record.
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This client scenario is an amalgamation of cases we have handled. Details have been combined and adjusted to protect client confidentiality, and it does not describe a single client or transaction.