I attended a class this morning for 3 hours to get updated on the new Immigration laws that
apply to foreign investors coming over to the United States to purchase real estate, buy a
business or relocate for purpose of working for a major corporation. 

We learned from an Immigration Attorney Mr. Gonzales how " You, the investor, will create a company; purchase real estate through the company and apply for a selected visa status based on your roll in that company". 

Mr. Gonzales explained the differences of visas. Here are few examples: E-1, E-2, EB-5, L1-A, Permanent Residency, Working Visa, etc.

EB-5 - The United States government offers of 10,000 visas to qualified individuals who simply want to purchase permanent residency in the United States through their investment immediately.  In a nutshell, those investors can either invest $500,000 or $1,000,000 in twenty seriously depressed areas of the country in order to earn their permanent residency.   The corporation must employ ten individuals and the total investment must be made within two years. A good immigration attorney should be hired to set up
all documents properly.

E-2 Visa - The treaty investor visa for a non-immigrant visa called (E-2) based on US and Foreign Country agreements. The E-2 visa is issued to foreign nationals of specific countries under the premise that the visa holder is coming to the United States for the sole purpose of developing and managing their particular business entity with which they have invested and the funds are at risk should the business fail.

L1-A Visa - The Intra-Company Transferee visa is a non-immigrant visa allows managers, executives and specialized knowledge employees to transfer from a foreign company to a use parent company, affiliate, branch or subsidiary corporation to perform managerial, executive or specialized worker functions.

There is also a form called FIRPTA.

FIRPTA authorized the IRS to apply a withholding income tax on nonresident aliens and foreign corporations with sales of US real property interests. A real property interest includes sales of real property as well as sales of shares in certain US corporations that primarily hold and sell real property in the US. When a person or corporation purchases a US real property interest from nonresident aliens or foreign corporation, they are required to withhold 10% of the amount realized.

The withholding tax is intended to ensure that the US is able to tax the gains realized on the sale of such interests.

A common exception to FIRPTA withholding is that the person or corporation purchasing the property is not required to withhold tax when the purchaser purchases real estate for his or her own home and the purchase price is $300,000 or less.

If you are a foreign investor looking to purchase real estate in the United States you can should hire
a good Immigration Attorney, follow the proper rules and enjoy great investments in the U.S.  As
a Realtor you can attend these classes offered by NAR, FIABCI, Mr. Gonzales, and your Local Boards.

Think Globally - Sell Locally! 
Sincerely,  Dagmar Sands