Home Loan Documents Required for Merchant Navy Employee

Last Updated : March 9, 2021, 12:55 p.m.

Merchant Navy officers are employed by commercial shopping companies to work on all kinds of seagoing vessels such as cruise liners, cargo ships, tankers and hovercraft. They typically adopt a deck officer or engineering officer role in a team-leading capacity. Such employees sail for nearly 6-9 months on the seagoing vessel.

Every time they sail, they undergo a new contract with the same or different organisation. All these borrowers can apply for.

Merchant Navy officers usually get their salaries in USD or GBP. To apply for a home loan application, apart from providing regular salaried employee documents .

Required to Provide the below Documents as Additional Documents

Copy of Valid Visa

The latest visa along with the last 3 years travel details of the Visa are required from the merchant navy officers.

Copy of Valid Passport

A copy of the passport is required by the financial institutions. The passport should not be expiring within 24 months of application.

Latest Employment Contract

Copy of latest employment contract or labour contract is required. Sometimes the employment contract is in the local language of the company’s origin country, hence a translated copy in English is required. The borrower needs to get this translated copy countersigned by his employer.

Latest Salary Certificate

The salary certificate is also required to be in English. If the language is different, a translated copy should be provided. Financial institutions also look for passport number in the payslips.

Latest Work Permit

Since the merchant navy officers sail and deboard in various countries, hence latest work permits are required.

Overseas Bank Account (NRE/ NRO) statement for the last six months

• NRE:- Non-Resident External – is a type of account, in which only “external money” that is foreign currency can be deposited. Thus, even while the account holder has an account in India, the rupee can not be deposited, though it can be withdrawn.
• NRO:- Non-Resident Ordinary – is the account by a Non- resident Indian in India, in which rupee, as well as foreign currencies, can be deposited. Withdrawal is only in the Indian rupee.

The borrower, it does not own any NRE / NRO account can open one and provide the account details to the lender.

Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC)

This is like an identity card that is provided by the government to merchant navy officers. Every officer while onboard must carry this document. It defines the number of days he has sailed. The CDC is valid for five years and should be renewed by the officer.

Credit Bureau Report

Just like any Indian resident, the merchant navy employee’s credit history is reviewed. Not just CIBIL (the credit bureau in India) they should arrange a copy of the credit bureau applicable in the residing country.

Power of Attorney

Since Merchant navy employees are considered as NRI’s. They are not available in the country for all times while servicing the loan hence they should have a power of attorney holder. An attorney can be any family member. Attorney’s KYC is also submitted to the financial institution. All the lenders have their own formats of Power of attorney which should be registered and submitted.

One of the most important points for Merchant navy officers to note is they should apply for a home loan only while the labour contract is ongoing or the labour contract is about to begin. Home loan applications where the labour contract has expired and no new labour contract has been signed gets rejected.