Car finance when you're not a permanent resident.

Often, yes — but the honest answer depends on facts we don't have yet. Work rights come first, then income and how long you've been earning it, then the ordinary things every applicant is assessed on. What we can promise is a straight answer rather than an encouraging one, and that you'll get it before anything is lodged.

It matters a great deal. Different visas carry different work rights, different durations and different pathways to what comes after. Two people who both describe themselves as "on a temporary visa" can be in entirely different positions. That's why this site has separate pages for the common subclasses rather than one page covering them all.

It's a visa that keeps you lawfully in Australia while something else is resolved — usually another visa application, a review or an appeal. It bridges the gap between one status and the next. There are several types, granted in different circumstances, and they don't all carry the same conditions.

That depends on which bridging visa you hold and what conditions were attached when it was granted. Some carry work rights, some restrict or prohibit work, and some conditions can be varied by applying to the Department. We won't guess from a general description — your grant notice states the position, and a VEVO check confirms it as it stands today.

You shouldn't be, and a properly presented file makes that obvious. Years of Australian employment, a long address history, savings and clean credit conduct are all evidence, and they carry weight regardless of the label on your current visa. Part of our job is making sure that history is in front of the assessor rather than buried under the word "temporary".

There is no universal figure, and anyone who quotes you one is describing a single lender's position on a single day. Broadly, a longer runway makes a file easier and a very short one makes it harder — and a bridging visa often doesn't have a conventional expiry at all, since it generally continues until the matter behind it is decided. Show us the notice and we'll work with what's actually on it.

A thin file is not a bad file, and the two are read differently. With little history to assess, other evidence does more of the work — steady employment, savings that build month on month, statements without dishonours, and a deposit if you're able to contribute one. It does narrow the field, which is precisely the situation a broker is useful in.

The loan doesn't go anywhere. It stays a debt you're contractually responsible for, and the car stays as security against it. Selling to clear it is possible but takes time and rarely returns what you paid. If your situation is genuinely uncertain, that's a conversation worth having before you sign, and we'd rather have it then than later.