You live abroad and want to finance in Germany.
With residence abroad, a different set of banks applies, with different documents and usually a loan-to-value of 60–70%. Which bank takes your case depends on your country of residence. Pick your country — each page is tailored to that situation.
By country of residence
Banks assess non-residents differently. Proof of income, currency and country of residence decide who finances. We know the banks that actively take these cases and broker independently under §34i GewO.
Non-resident overview
The starting point: requirements, documents and loan-to-value when you buy in Germany from abroad.
Learn more → 🇪🇺EU residence
Within the EU financing is often simpler — which banks accept EU residence.
Learn more → 🇨🇭Swiss residence
CHF income, proximity to the border, bank selection — the specifics for Swiss residence.
Learn more → 🇳🇱NL / Austria residence
Neighbouring countries with their own set of banks — what counts for NL and AT residence.
Learn more → 🇬🇧UK residence
Post-Brexit: GBP income and the banks that still finance UK residence.
Learn more → 🇺🇸USA / Canada residence
USD/CAD income, time difference, documents — financing from North America.
Learn more → 🇦🇪UAE / Dubai residence
Tax-free income, proof of income and the right banks for UAE residence.
Learn more → 🌏USA · UK · Asia expats
Several locations abroad, one logic: proof of income and bank selection compared.
Learn more →Frequently asked questions
Can I get financing at all with residence abroad?
Which documents do I need?
Will the bank count my foreign-currency income?
Residence decides, not citizenship
German nationals living abroad routinely assume that their passport keeps the ordinary rules in place. For a bank it does not. What matters is where you are tax-resident — whether you maintain a residence or habitual abode in Germany within the meaning of §§ 8 and 9 of the German Fiscal Code. If you have given up your German residence, you are subject to limited tax liability (§ 1 (4) EStG). In banking language: a tax non-resident. The passport changes nothing.
It is that status, not your salary, that halves the field of lenders. An engineer earning well in Zurich collects rejections that the same engineer living in Stuttgart would never have received.
The reasons they rarely state openly
- Which law applies. Under the Rome I Regulation a consumer habitually resident abroad may in certain cases invoke mandatory protective provisions of that country. The lender then cannot be certain how the contract would be construed in a dispute — and uncertainty is more expensive than default risk.
- § 505d BGB. If the bank assesses creditworthiness improperly, the borrower may reduce the interest rate to market level and terminate at any time. Foreign income makes a defensible assessment harder — so the exposure to that sanction rises.
- Foreign currency, § 503 BGB. If the loan is not denominated in the currency of the country where you live, you acquire a statutory right to convert it. The right attaches to the currency of your country of residence, not to the currency of your income — a distinction that is constantly confused and costs applications.
- The practical layer. Serving documents abroad, identification under anti-money-laundering rules, evidencing the source of equity held offshore, enforcement in the worst case. All solvable — none of it solvable inside an automated application process.
Some lenders do handle this. There are few of them, they do not advertise it, and comparison portals will not find them. That access is what this advice is for.
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