How long lenders want you in a casual FIFO job
For a casual worker, most lenders want about six months with your current employer before they'll count your pay. Some want 12 months, and some want six months plus a longer stretch in the same industry, such as a year or more of mine work. That's a higher bar than for a permanent employee, so the date you started with your current employer matters more than your total years on site.
Our guide to how long you need to be employed for a home loan covers probation, gaps between jobs and the general rules for every worker.
If a labour-hire company employs you
If a labour-hire company places you on a mine site, that company is your employer: it pays you, and its name is on your payslips and your income statement. Lenders don't set separate pay rules for labour hire that we could find, so if you're employed casually through the company, your pay is read as casual pay, and some lenders count time with an employment agency toward their minimum.
If you move from one labour-hire company to another, or the mine operator takes you on directly, most lenders treat your work as continuous if you stay at the same worksite, but a broker still needs to check each lender. Some lenders will count time in the same industry or role instead of time with your current employer, which can help if you've changed agencies but kept doing the same work. If the work stays the same, keep your payslips from each employer and give your broker the dates, so they can show your work has been continuous.
How lenders count pay that changes from swing to swing
Casual FIFO pay jumps around: a pay period that covers a full swing looks nothing like one spent at home. So lenders don't take your best payslip. Most scale your year-to-date pay (your pay so far this financial year) up to a full year, counting the year as somewhere between 40 and 52 working weeks, most often about 48. A lender may instead average your pay over the last six months or so. With a short history, some use the lower of that figure and last financial year's income.
Some lenders also count only part of a casual's pay, and some count a casual's overtime at less, or not at all. Two lenders can read the same payslips and arrive at quite different incomes. Lenders may also ask for payslips covering more than one swing (also called a hitch), to check your pay is similar from one swing to the next.
Six months and the path to permanent work
You and your employer can agree to make you permanent at any time. There's also a formal route: under the Fair Work Act's employee choice pathway, a casual who has worked for their employer for at least six months (12 months for a small business) can tell their employer in writing that they want to become permanent, if they believe they no longer fit the definition of a casual. The employer has 21 days to respond in writing, and can only say no for certain reasons, such as fair and reasonable operational grounds. Some casuals can't give notice, so the Fair Work Ombudsman is the place to check whether it applies to you.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Becoming a permanent employee, read 16 October 2026.
Six months is also the usual minimum lenders want with a casual employer, so on a regular roster the formal route often opens around the time lenders start counting your casual pay. If you do change, permanent employees usually face shorter minimums, but permanent pay usually drops the casual loading (the higher hourly rate casuals get instead of paid leave), so the income lenders count can fall. Lenders usually count your casual months toward the permanent role, but they may want a letter from your employer and one payslip, or two payslips, showing your new pay.
What our home loan comparison tool shows a casual worker
If you're casual, choose “Casual” as your employment basis in the form. The chat on our home page assumes full-time work, so choose “Use a form instead” to change it. Lenders whose casual policy needs more detail stay in your list with a “Needs more info” badge, rather than disappearing.
Some lenders' calculators also count casual pay at less than its full amount, so the indicative amounts can change as well as the badges. The worked example below shows both.
A worked example
This is an illustration, not a quote.
Kayla: a casual mine worker employed by a labour-hire company on a fly-in fly-out roster, based in Mackay. She has been with her current employer for more than six months, is single with no other debts, and has saved a 20% deposit.
- Base pay (ordinary hours)
- $97,000 a year
- Overtime
- $54,000 a year
- Employment
- Casual, more than six months with her employer
- Living expenses
- $3,000 a month
- Home price
- $600,000 (Mackay)
- Loan amount
- $480,000, owner-occupied, 30 years
Indicative borrowing for Kayla: about $566,000 to $822,000 across the lenders on our panel that our tool does not rule out for her situation, calculated on 19 October 2026. Your own figure depends on your full situation.
Some of these lenders would need a broker to confirm a policy detail for this situation.
What moved the figure
The range comes from each lender's own servicing calculator (the sums a lender uses to test whether you can afford the repayments). Being casual affects the results in two ways. Most lenders' figures stay where they would be for a full-time worker on the same pay, but many cards show “Needs more info” because those lenders' casual policy needs a broker to confirm the detail. And some lenders' calculators count casual pay at less than its full amount, which pulls the bottom of the range down.
The rest of the spread comes from how much of Kayla's overtime each lender counts, the buffer each adds to its interest rate when it tests the repayments, and the minimum living-expense figure each uses.
What to have ready
- Payslips covering at least your last six months, with your year-to-date pay, and your latest income statement or tax return.
- A letter from your employer (or your labour-hire company) with your start date, your usual roster and that the work is ongoing.
- If you've moved between labour-hire companies or to the mine operator, the dates and payslips from each.
- Statements showing your savings and where your deposit came from.
