Buying a US Home as a Foreign National

The residency myth

This is the single most important thing to understand before anything else: buying a home in the United States does not give you a visa, a green card, or any path to residency. Property ownership confers zero immigration benefit. None. You can own a $3 million house in California and still have no legal right to live in the country beyond whatever visa you already hold.

The confusion often comes from the EB-5 program, which is the only US investment-based green card. But EB-5 requires investing in a US business (a new commercial enterprise), not buying a house.

The investor must create or preserve at least 10 permanent full-time US jobs. Current minimum investment thresholds are $1,050,000, or $800,000 in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA, a region with high unemployment or rural designation). These amounts are periodically adjusted by statute. An immigration attorney is the right professional for EB-5 questions, not a real-estate agent.

So if someone tells you that buying property is a shortcut to a green card, that is wrong. Buy a home because you want to own it, not because you expect residency to follow.

Paying for it

Cash is common among international buyers, and the numbers confirm it. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 47% of international home buyers paid all-cash in the April 2024 to March 2025 period, compared to 28% among all US buyers. The gap is not surprising. Financing from abroad is harder, so many buyers skip it entirely.

That said, foreign-national loan programs do exist. They typically require a larger down payment (roughly a quarter to half of the purchase price) and do not require a US credit history. Terms vary by lender, so shopping around matters. Buyers who have an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN, the IRS-issued number for people who need to file US taxes but do not have a Social Security number) can qualify for certain ITIN-specific loan products as well.

One legal protection worth knowing: under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), a lender may consider immigration status as it relates to your ability to repay, but it may not use your national origin or race as a basis to deny you a loan. The line between status and origin can feel thin in practice, but the legal distinction is real.

Expect to document the origin of your funds and the transfer trail. Documenting your funds is standard anti-money-laundering diligence that applies to large transactions generally. It is not a penalty for being a foreign buyer.

For a deeper look at the full range of financing paths available to immigrant and foreign-national buyers (conventional loans, FHA, bank-statement programs, and foreign-national loan products), see the companion guide: Mortgage for Immigrant Buyers in the Bay Area.

Taxes and paperwork

What follows is general education, not legal or tax advice.

ITIN. If you do not have a Social Security number, you will likely need an ITIN to file US tax returns and to request reduced withholding when you eventually sell. You apply on IRS Form W-7, and a valid passport is the single stand-alone identity document the IRS accepts.

Property taxes. These work identically for foreign owners and US citizens. The county assessor does not care about your citizenship. Your annual property tax bill is based on the assessed value of the home, the same formula applied to every other owner in the county.

FIRPTA. The Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA) applies when a foreign person sells US real property. Here is how it works: the buyer (called the transferee) generally withholds 15% of the amount realized (the sale price) and sends it to the IRS on the seller's behalf. This is a withholding against the seller's eventual US income tax, not an additional tax on top of it. It hits the foreign seller at the time of sale, not the buyer at purchase.

If the withholding exceeds your actual tax liability, you file a return and claim the difference back. Reduced-withholding certificates exist and can lower the amount held, but they require advance planning with a certified public accountant (CPA).

Estate-tax exposure. Estate-tax exposure catches people off guard. Assets located in the US, including real estate, are subject to US estate tax. For US citizens and permanent residents, the filing threshold is in the millions. For nonresidents, the threshold is only $60,000 (filed on Form 706-NA). That is a significant difference, and it means a foreign owner of a California home could face US estate-tax obligations that a citizen in the same house would not. This is genuine attorney and CPA territory. Ask before you buy, not after.

The process from abroad

The mechanics of a California real-estate transaction do not change because the buyer is a foreign national. Escrow (the neutral third party that holds funds and documents until all conditions are met) and title work (the process that confirms the seller actually owns the property and can transfer it) run the same way regardless of citizenship.

You do not need to be physically present to close. A Power of Attorney (a legal document that authorizes someone to act on your behalf) can handle signing. If you are in a country that is party to the Hague Convention, your documents will need an apostille (a standardized international authentication certificate). If not, US consulate notarization is the alternative.

California has specific rules around remote online notarization that differ from most other states. Rather than printing details that may change, the simplest path is to confirm the current options with your escrow or title company once you are in contract.

Where the Bay Area fits

California is the second most popular US destination for international home purchases, accounting for 15% of the total, according to NAR data for the April 2024 to March 2025 period. The top five countries of origin by dollar volume were China (15% of total dollar volume, $13.7 billion), Canada (14%, $6.2 billion), Mexico (8%, $4.4 billion), India (6%, $2.2 billion), and the United Kingdom (4%, $2 billion).

The Bay Area draws international buyers for reasons that are not hard to see: proximity to major tech employers, strong long-term appreciation, and a diverse population where buying a home as a non-US citizen is routine, not unusual.

I work with buyers across the Bay Area, primarily in Alameda, Santa Clara, and Contra Costa counties. I am bilingual in English and Russian, in real estate since 2007, and California licensed since 2016 (Cal DRE #02010731). 104 documented closings and $115M+ in total volume, the majority on the buyer side. If you are considering a purchase from abroad or are already here on a visa and want to understand your options, send me a message. Every situation is different, and the best starting point is a conversation about yours.

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