Technical article

Buy a Home, Get a Residence Permit: What the Price Has to Be

They are happy to buy a home abroad if it comes with the right to stay.

By Neil Solomon · 5 min read

Picture a couple named Sam and Linda. They are 66 and 63. They are happy to buy a home abroad if it comes with the right to stay. They have seen ads that say "buy a home, get residency." They want to know which governments say so, and at what price.

Eight places turned up. For four of them I found official figures. For the other four I found only partial or no official pages. I mark which is which.

Where an official page gives a price

Mauritius. The investment board's guide says a permit is "granted to a non-citizen only upon acquisition of a residential property whose value exceeds USD 375,000." For first-time purchasers under the main schemes, the registration duty is the lower of US$70,000 or 5 percent of the value. A resale carries 5 percent paid by the buyer, plus 5 percent land transfer tax paid by the seller. The processing fee is MUR 25,000, not refundable. Property bought without authorization is void. The sources do not show whether these schemes give freehold. The duty figures come from a summary of the guide.

Qatar. The government's instruction manual for non-Qatari ownership says a property worth more than QAR 730,000 gives residency. Below that value you can buy but get no residency. More than QAR 3,650,000 gives residency with privileges tied to permanent residents, such as health care and education. Several properties can be added together. You may buy only in the listed areas. The manual lists 9 freehold and 16 usufruct areas, among them The Pearl, Lusail and Jabal Thuaileb. Use by a non-Qatari is limited to 99 years, renewable. Vacant land must be built on within four years from registration. The registration fee is 0.25 percent. You will see QAR 1,000,000 in some ads. That number is not on any official page in the sources. An Invest Qatar article gives about US$1 million as the rough equivalent of QAR 3.65 million, which may be where it comes from. That is my guess, not a page statement.

Jordan. A government page about the Aqaba development plan says "those who purchase property valued at JD 150,000 or more will be granted extended residency permits," for the buyer and dependants. It also says non-Jordanian retirees with valid residence permits and enough money may import one vehicle after buying residential property in Aqaba. The page does not say whether the rule is for Aqaba only or for the whole country, how long the permit lasts, or what it costs.

Fiji. The assured-income permit is for people 45 and over. The immigration page says residence is granted "upon receipt of remittance of" 100,000 "and/or purchase of property of value equivalent to" 100,000 or more. The foreign ministry page says the property purchase may waive the FJD 100,000 deposit. Work is not allowed. The fee and the extra family amounts differ on the two pages. See our piece on retirement visas in Asia and the Pacific.

Where the picture is partial or missing

Bahamas. There is no property category as such. The nearest is permanent residence for financially independent people who own a home. A purchase of BSD 1.5 million or more gets "speedy consideration." That is not a guarantee. The processing fee is BSD 100.

Uzbekistan. A 2021 law says an identity card is issued to "foreign citizens who have acquired real estate in the Republic of Uzbekistan." Foreigners have property rights equal to citizens unless a law or treaty says otherwise. The card lasts 5 years for ages 16 to 60 and 10 years over 60, for permanent residents. The law sets no price. A separate five-year program asks for US$250,000, plus US$150,000 for each family member, and the page does not mention real estate. A decree from 2024 that may set a property threshold would not open.

Cayman Islands. The immigration law lets the director grant permanent residence to "persons of independent means." The pages with the amounts could not be reached.

Oman. No official page I could read was found. Press reports from June 2026 mention a police decision on residency for foreign property owners. They are not official and I do not use their numbers.