Florida rule prohibiting Chinese citizens from owning property is overturned by a US court. Buildings and property can’t be bought in Florida by anyone who is “domiciled” in China and isn’t a U.S. citizen or holder of a green card.
“Today’s ruling should serve as a warning to other states who are considering passing similarly racist bills, steeped in a history when Asians were ineligible for citizenship and were told they didn’t belong,” Li stated in a statement.
Additionally, most residents of North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, and Russia are prohibited from owning real estate close to military facilities and infrastructure, including airports and power plants.
About The Florida Rule Prohibiting Chinese Citizens From Owning Property
Individuals on the restricted list who already possess real estate close to vital infrastructure are subject to state registration requirements or daily fines of up to $1,000. They are also not allowed to purchase any more real estate. The law contains clauses that permit the state to take property away from infringers.
This year, there have been fifty more states that impose restrictions on foreign ownership of agricultural land. Also, Foriegn students can access the Temple University’s #YouAreWelcomeHere scholarship for 2024–2025.
In 14 states, there were laws limiting foreign ownership or investments in private agricultural land as of 2023. Restrictive legislation has also been passed this year in Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.
According to Micah Brown, a staff attorney of the University of Arkansas’s National Agricultural Law Centre, foreign property ownership has turned into “a political flashpoint.”
According to Brown, the new wave of state legislation aimed at stopping foreign corporations from owning land is a result of several well-known instances of Chinese-affiliated businesses buying land close to military installations.
The projected $700 million wet corn milling factory by the Fufeng Group, which is located next to a Grand Forks, North Dakota, installation, has been described as a “significant threat to national security” by the U.S. Air Force earlier this year.
Texas responded to the purchase of a wind farm next to an Air Force base by a Chinese army veteran and real estate mogul in 2021 by outlawing infrastructure transactions with anyone connected to any government, including China.
What Happens If The Florida Rule Prohibiting Chinese Citizens From Owning Property Is Passed
When the law was passed, two Chinese nationals purchasing property were prevented from being affected by Florida’s attempt to enforce a prohibition on Chinese people owning homes or land in the state by a U.S. appeals court.
The people argued that Florida’s restriction breaches a federal statute limiting foreign nationals’ real estate acquisitions. A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta concluded on Thursday that they were likely to win their case.
The plaintiffs filed an appeal after a federal judge in Florida denied their request to overturn the legislation in August.
A panel of a federal appeals court ruled that the state could not impose an injunction on two Chinese nationals who were in the process of purchasing real estate at the time the statute was passed.
Lawmakers in several states controlled by Republicans, such as Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama, consider imposing such limitations on Chinese nationals’ ability to own property.
A minor exemption to the legislation permits non-tourist visa holders from such nations to possess a single property as long as it is at least five miles (8 km) away from vital infrastructure.