We report on the out-of-plane magnetization in Fe/Ni and Fe/Au bilayers grown on GaAs(0 0 1). For Ni thicknesses of several monolayers, the magnetization of the Fe/Ni bilayer increases linearly with the Fe film thickness, which is typically observed when Fe grows in the BCC-structure. For thicknesses up to 8 ML, Ni is nonmagnetic such as in the Fe/Ni/GaAs(0 0 1) structure. This could be due diffusion of Ga. Up to thickness of 2 ML the Fe overlayer is magnetized out-of-plane, however at low temperatures only. The nature of the out-of-plane spin orientation is discussed, also in view of the crystallographic structure of the Fe/Ni bilayer and by comparison with the Fe/Au bilayer grown on GaAs(0 0 1).