Reviewed 2026-07-13
Kensington visa & foreign national mortgage criteria
Accepts foreign nationals
Case-by-case
Max LTV without ILR
up to 70% LTV
Minimum time left on visa
24 months
| Criteria | Verdict | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Accepts foreign nationals | Case-by-case | — ILR usually required; visa route exists only to 70% LTV with £75k income, 2 years in the UK and 2+ years left on the visa (trade sources, latest Nov 2024 — confirm current policy with the lender) |
| Max LTV without ILR | Case-by-case |
Exception route only (see above) — confirm with lender |
| Income requirement (foreign nationals) | Yes | — £75,000 for the no-ILR exception route (trade sources — confirm) |
| Visa types accepted | Yes | — |
| Minimum time left on visa | Yes |
For the no-ILR exception route (trade sources — confirm) |
| ILR (settled status) required | Yes | — By default; limited exception to 70% LTV only |
| Deposit from overseas | Yes | — |
| Foreign income accepted | Yes | — |
| Builder gifted deposit | Yes | — |
| New-build max LTV | Yes |
|
| Max LTV (standard) | Yes |
|
Source: lender intermediary criteria, last verified 2026-07-10. Criteria change frequently — always confirm current policy with the lender or a broker.
Adviser's view
Kensington is a specialist lender whose value is manual underwriting — every case read as a story rather than scored. But for visa holders specifically, be clear about what its criteria actually say: settled status is the default requirement, and the visa-only route is a narrow exception — reported at up to 70% LTV, with a £75,000 income floor, two years in the same job or self-employment and two-plus years left on the visa. In plain terms: without ILR, Kensington is a big-deposit option, not a low-deposit one.
Where it genuinely earns a place is after status is settled — or within that exception — for applicants whose income confuses the high street: multiple income strands, self-employment, or a credit blip picked up while getting established in the UK. Manual underwriters can weigh those; scorecards can't.
One honesty note: Kensington publishes less foreign-national detail than most, and the available figures trace to a primary product guide that's a few months old — treat the exception-route numbers in the table above as indicative and confirm current appetite through a broker before building a plan around them.