(EFE)
The controversial law signed this Monday by the governor of Florida, the Republican Ron DeSantis, prohibits the majority of the citizens of Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, China, Iran and Syria from acquiring real estate located less than 10 miles ( 16 kilometers) of civil or military infrastructures considered critical.
This limitation should not affect, in principle, foreign citizens residing in Florida with non-tourist visas or in conditions of political asylum, but its scope in the broad immigrant community of this state, 21% of the total population in 2018.
This limitation should not affect, in principle, foreign citizens residing in Florida with non-tourist visas or in conditions of political asylum
Last week, the state Senate approved the bill SB 264 promoted by DeSantis, after making some corrections in the text that could be discriminatory against the Chinese-American community, the newspaper reported today. Miami Herald.
The Axios Miami website recently pointed out that the regulation has created concern in many groups of Venezuelans and Asian-Americans, given the impact of this regulation on their prospects for buying a home.
“The vague definition of who can and who can’t buy property under this law has raised serious concerns that it could be used to target Chinese people and prevent them from buying homes in Florida,” the Alliance of Florida organization said with concern in a recent statement. Florida Asian-American Justice.
However, Peggy Olin, president and CEO of the real estate and services company OneWorld Properties, with a permanent presence in China, downplays the potential impact of this law, which seems to be limited in the real estate sector in general.
“The movement of money that comes from Latin America currently does not come from countries like Venezuela, nor from Russia or China, as has happened in the last two years”
“If we focus on who have been the buyers and/or the countries that have had the most impact on the purchase of South Florida in the last three years, these countries do not appear on this list,” Olin told EFE today.
In this context, “the movement of money that comes from Latin America currently does not come from countries like Venezuela, nor from Russia or China, as has happened in the last two years,” when they did play an important role in investment in properties in Florida.
However, Olin highlighted that, as a consequence of this law, those affected foreign owners must be careful to register the property and, “if for some reason it was in the name of an LLC company (limited liability company), now the registry must be made in the name of a natural person”.
The president of OneWorld Properties advises buyers from these countries to “do a thorough investigation of the area where they want to buy, so as not to enter prohibited areas”, at a time when the real estate sector in South Florida is undergoing “a transformation” .
“Investment in South Florida is no longer just foreign, but we have seen strong growth in American buying in Miami,” due in large part to the fact that Florida is exempt from state taxes, he added.
The three laws signed on Monday by DeSantis seek, according to the governor, to break the influence not only of China but also of other “hostile countries.”
The three laws signed on Monday by DeSantis seek, according to the governor, to break the influence not only of China but also of other “hostile countries” such as Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria and North Korea.
As of July 1, foreigners from the seven designated countries can only purchase a piece of land or a Florida residence of up to two acres, “as long as it is beyond the 10-mile radius of a critical infrastructure or military point,” the government said. rotary.
They must then register the property with the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS) and the state Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO).
Citizens of these nations who already own a property or land can keep it, regardless of its location, but, as the expert pointed out, they are required to register it as of January 2024 or they will receive a fine.
However, this new law, according to the aforementioned South Florida newspaper, could end up harming the Miami real estate industry and exclude certain foreigners from buying homes in Doral, a neighboring Miami and home to many Venezuelans, Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne (Key Biscayne) and other cities in southeast Florida.
Groups in favor of immigrants showed this Thursday their rejection of the promulgation of the “discriminatory” law in Florida that “only seeks to instill fear” among the undocumented and whose consequences, they warned, could affect the state economy.
“If the purpose is to eliminate agriculture from Florida, they are achieving it,” Claudia González, coordinator of the Florida Farmers Association, told EFE.
“They are throwing us out of the state,” Adelys Ferro, executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus and one of the participants in a press conference offered this Thursday outside the Freedom Tower in Miami, an emblematic meeting point for the Cuban-American community in South Florida.
“If the purpose is to eliminate agriculture from Florida, they are achieving it,” Claudia González, coordinator of the Florida Farmers Association (FWAF), based in the center of the state and which brings together some 20,000 members, told EFE.
The activist pointed out that many farm workers based in Florida are thinking of moving to other states or returning to their countries of origin, while some seasonal workers now no longer want to set foot in the state.
The executive director of the Miami Freedom Project, Ana Sofía Pelaez, said that it is “deeply disappointing” that some members of the Hispanic community in Florida could be in favor of the initiative signed on Wednesday by DeSantis, and pointed to the Freedom Tower, a site that decades ago welcomed Cubans fleeing “an authoritarian regime.”
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