Miami
EB-5, E-2, and the US Investor Visa Landscape — Honest Trade-offs for Foreign Buyers
There is no equivalent of Spain's Golden Visa in the United States. There are, however, several investor-linked visas. Each comes with serious trade-offs, and none are triggered by buying real estate alone.
Spain's Golden Visa (now ended for new property-only applications since 2025) gave a generation of foreign buyers a clean answer: buy €500k of property, get residency. The United States has never had that equivalent. Buying real estate in Miami does not give the buyer any immigration status. There are, however, several investor-linked visa pathways — and they are frequently misunderstood, oversold by visa consultants, and worth understanding clearly before relying on them in life planning.
The main pathways — side by side
| Visa | Minimum investment | Status | Processing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EB-5 (Regional Center, TEA) | $800,000 | Green card (5-year permanent) | 24–60+ months | Job creation required; source-of-funds heavy |
| EB-5 (Direct, non-TEA) | $1,050,000 | Green card | 24–60+ months | Direct business investment |
| E-2 Treaty Investor | Substantial (typ. $150k+) | Non-immigrant, renewable indefinitely | 2–4 months | Treaty country nationals only; active business |
| L-1 (intracompany transfer) | n/a | Non-immigrant | 2–6 months | Existing foreign company required |
| O-1 (extraordinary ability) | n/a | Non-immigrant | 2–4 months | High evidentiary bar |
| EB-1 (extraordinary ability) | n/a | Green card | 12–36 months | Very high evidentiary bar |
What real estate alone does not buy
Passive ownership of a Miami residence — even a $20M one — gives the foreign owner no immigration status. EB-5 requires an active, job-creating commercial enterprise; passive residential real estate does not qualify, though certain EB-5 regional center investments are real-estate-adjacent (typically construction or hospitality development that creates the required jobs). E-2 requires an active operating business in which the investor is materially engaged.
For families that need US residency for school, lifestyle, or tax planning reasons, the right path is usually EB-5 through a credible regional center project, or E-2 if the family is from a treaty country and willing to run an operating business. The real-estate acquisition runs in parallel and is structured for its own reasons (use, investment, estate planning).
About the author
Shibui Research is the editorial desk of Shibui Collective, covering private real estate for cross-border family capital. Our team has structured and operated more than $1.2B of value-add and core-plus real estate across Europe, the Americas, and Asia over the past fifteen years.
Related reading
- Buying Property in Miami as a Foreign Investor — The Complete Guide
- Spain Golden Visa 2026 — What Has Actually Changed for Foreign Property Buyers
- FIRPTA and the Foreign Blocker Structure — How Sophisticated Foreign Buyers Hold US Real Estate
- Global Mobility and Residency Planning for Property-Owning Families
- → Explore the Miami market