Does buying property in the US give you residency?

The routes to permanent residency are family, employment, investing in a business, asylum and a few special programs. Owning real estate is not on the list. That holds for a USD 15,000 lot and for a million-dollar house.

What the purchase does give you is ownership: a deed in your name (warranty deed), recorded in Fulton County, Arkansas. It is a dollar asset you can keep, build on or sell while you go on living at home.

Arkansas Act 636 of 2023 allows it, with one exception: people and companies from certain countries the state restricts, such as China, Russia or Iran, cannot buy farmland, and companies they control cannot buy land of any kind (Act 811 of 2025). Chile, Argentina and Brazil are not on that list.

The full process, from reservation to deed, is in how to buy land in the USA. You do not need to travel or take out a bank loan.

The amounts are in the USCIS Policy Manual, which also says they adjust automatically on 1 January 2027. The money has to go into a new commercial enterprise, not a property for your own use: buying your home or your land does not count, even if it costs more than the minimum.

Watch out for pages that still show USD 1,000,000 and USD 500,000: those are the amounts from before March 2022. The table sums up what each route gives you and whether a lot like ours qualifies for any of them.

If what you want is part of your savings in dollars, a lot is a far smaller commitment than the EB-5: see the payment plans.

The official list is in the State Department Foreign Affairs Manual: Argentina has had an E-2 treaty since 1854 and Chile since 2004. Brazil is not listed, so a Brazilian citizen cannot apply for the E-2 on that passport.

Buying from Chile? See the guide to buying land in the US from Chile. From Argentina, the guide for Argentine buyers (both in Spanish), and from Brazil, the guide in Portuguese.

The E-2 requires an operating business that you direct, and a lot is not one. The State Department manual expressly excludes passive investment and gives undeveloped land as its example.

The text says the investment cannot be an idle speculative investment, such as undeveloped land held for potential appreciation. A residential lot you buy to keep or to build your home on is exactly that in the eyes of the visa.

If anyone offers you land "with a visa included", be wary. No seller can promise an immigration outcome: the consulate decides.

Chile has been in the Visa Waiver Program since 2014: with an approved ESTA you can enter for tourism or business for up to 90 days. Apply only on the official ESTA website. Argentina left the program in 2002 and Brazil is not part of it, so those passports need a visitor visa.

Once you arrive, find your lot on the map of lots: each one is drawn with its boundary on the aerial photo.

You do not need to travel to buy: you can check the lot with drone photos, video, its plat map and its county parcel number. Still, seeing the place before or after paying is a good idea.

The nearest airports with commercial flights are Memphis and Little Rock, about 3 hours away by car. We describe the area, the climate and local services in where Arkansas is and what Cherokee Village is like.

If you plan to go, tell us on a video call with the team and we will give you directions to your lot.

It lets you hold a dollar asset, in your own name, in a country with a public property record. It is not an immigration route or an investment with guaranteed returns: it is land that is yours.

In our case each lot costs USD 15,000 cash or USD 3,000 down plus 24 payments of USD 500, with no bank. See what's included in the price and the land for sale with drone photos.

We do not promise appreciation or returns: nobody can honestly do that. What we can show you is the lot, its parcel number and the purchase documents. For what comes after, read when you need an ITIN and what happens to the lot on inheritance.