Which Banks Offer Credit Cards to Australian Visa Holders?

Australians benefit from a highly competitive credit card market.

Many Australian credit cards come with perks like frequent flyer points, airport lounge passes and travel insurance. By taking advantage of a great sign-up bonus, you can even earn lots of points just by applying for a card and meeting the minimum spend criteria.

All Australian banks offer credit cards to Australian citizens and permanent residents, subject to the usual eligibility criteria. But what about people living in Australia temporarily?

Some banks offer credit cards to temporary Australian residents

Even if you’re living in Australia on a temporary visa, you might still be able to apply for a credit card here. It depends on the bank, your visa subclass and how much time is remaining on your visa.

Of course, you would also need to meet the other eligibility criteria for the card you wish to apply for. This varies between credit cards, but at a minimum you would generally need to:

• Be at least 18 years old,
• Be an Australian tax resident,
• Have regular income, and
• Have a good credit rating.

List of residency eligibility criteria by bank

We’ve summarised the residency requirements to get a credit card with each of the major Australian banks and card issuers in the table below:

Bank/Issuer	Residency criteria	Notes
American Express (Amex)	Australian citizen, permanent resident or hold a long term visa (valid for at least 12 months)	Student visas are not accepted
ANZ	Australian or New Zealand citizen, permanent resident or have more than 12 months left on your visa
Bank Australia	Living in Australia, “either permanently or temporarily”
Bankwest	“Permanent or temporary resident of Australia”	The Bankwest website says that “exceptions may apply” for temporary residents
Bank of Queensland (BOQ)	Australian citizen or permanent resident
Bendigo Bank	Australian citizen, permanent resident or “holding an acceptable visa and have applied for Australian PR with at least 12 months remaining on visa”	Acceptable visa subclasses are: 188, 489, 491, 494 and 482 (excluding short term stream)
Coles Credit Cards	Australian citizen or permanent resident
CommBank	“Legally have the right to work in Australia, have more than 6 months left on your visa and hold an eligible visa subclass”	According to the CommBank website, eligible visa subclasses include: 100, 132, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 300, 309, 407, 457, 482, 485, 500, 801, 820, 858, 887, 888, 010 and 020
HSBC	“Australian citizen, permanent resident, or hold a long-term visa”
Macquarie Bank	Australian citizen or permanent resident
MyCard	Australian citizen or permanent resident
NAB	Australian or New Zealand citizen, Australian permanent resident or “non-resident holding an acceptable Temporary Residency Visa”	According to the NAB website: “The following Visa categories are not acceptable: Visitor visa (exception, a Special Category visa – NZ Citizen is acceptable), Working Holiday, Student, Exchange/gap year, Transit/short stay/seasonal and Bridging.”
Qantas Money	Australian citizen or permanent resident
Qudos Bank	Australian citizen or permanent resident
St.George	Australian or New Zealand citizen, Australian permanent resident, or “hold a valid temporary residence visa with a minimum of 1 year before expiry”	According to the St.George website, acceptable temporary visa categories include: 188, 457, 482, 489, 491 and 820
Virgin Money	Australian citizen or permanent resident
Westpac	Australian or New Zealand citizen, Australian permanent resident, or “hold a valid temporary residence visa with a minimum of 1 year before expiry”	According to the Westpac website, acceptable temporary visa categories include: 188, 457, 482, 489, 491 and 820

Which banks make it easiest for Australian visa holders to get a credit card?

As you can see from the table above, CommBank and NAB have the most lenient eligibility criteria for people in Australia on temporary visas.

CommBank offers credit cards for people with a long list of visa subclasses, and you only need to have at least six months remaining on your visa before it expires.

American Express, Westpac, St.George, Bendigo Bank and Bankwest may also offer credit cards to temporary Australian visa holders, but only with certain subclasses. With these issuers, your visa would normally need to be valid for at least a year.

Most banks do not offer credit cards to holders of visa types such as temporary work, working holiday or temporary protection visas. But if you meet all the other eligibility criteria and you’re in Australia for over a year on something other than a student visa, such as a working holiday visa, you could try applying for an American Express card.

Where to find great credit card offers

Thinking about applying for an Australian credit card? You can find lots of great current offers right here at Australian Frequent Flyer!

Here are some current card offers to get you started:

Want to maximise your Qantas or Velocity Points? We regularly update our lists of the top credit cards for earning different types of points:

• See this month’s top Qantas credit card offers
• See this month’s top Virgin Australia Velocity credit card offers

Not sure yet if you want to earn Qantas Points, Velocity Points, or something else? If you’re new to the world of points and credit cards, check out our newbie’s guide to Australian frequent flyer programs!

Australian Frequent Flyer also offers a comprehensive training program to help you learn all about collecting and maximising points.

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