Prison for purchasing a house: Why some buyers in this state are terrified of getting on the property ladder and claim ‘we’re being treated like spies’

Aspiring homebuyers have revealed how scared they are of buying up property in Florida because they are being treated ‘like spies’ by officials.

Jin Bian, 31, from the Chinese city of Nanjing, raised these concerns months after he was told he could face jail time for buying a house in Tampa.

Other Florida residents said the same thing — nearly a year after Ron DeSantis made it a crime for Chinese citizens without citizenship to buy property there.

The new law bans citizens of China from buying homes anywhere in the state, especially near military installations, airports and refineries.

This week, Bian and others expressed outrage at being treated like foreign agents – while a lawsuit to overturn the law was already in the works. Bian is a software engineer at CitiGroup and has received a visa that allows companies to poach foreign workers.

‘That was really shocking to me. It’s just buying real estate,” he said CNN how he was told that he, along with the seller, could face jail time due to Florida Senate Bill 264.

“Once I heard that, I didn’t even bother looking.”

‘We are ordinary people. We don’t talk about these political things,” he said, adding that he felt offended.

“I think 99.99 percent of the people here just want to have a good life,” he continued, who is now ready to move after about 12 years.

“I don’t think California will ever have a law like that.”

Others expressed similar sentiments nearly a year after SB 264 — which also applies to Russian, Iranian, North Korean, Cuban, Venezuelan and Syrian citizens — went into effect on July 1.

They all live on Florida land but are considered foreign, meaning they can’t buy property unless they have a green card.

Echo King, a Chinese-born American citizen who is also president of the Florida Asian American Justice Alliance, is one of them and also spoke to the outlet to express her dissatisfaction.

“We feel like we’re different from everyone else because of these types of laws,” the Orlando immigration lawyer said.

“We feel like we’re not welcome.”

She is leading the fight against SB 264, which she says is discriminatory because it targets people from certain countries.

Passionate about helping immigrants achieve their American dreams, she said the law affects these people’s livelihoods as well as their businesses.

Susan Li belongs to this class, even though she has a green card, and is therefore exempt from the law.

But the guidelines, the 47-year-old small business owner in Orlando pointed out, do not address discrimination, which she says she has suffered since the law was passed.

“I thought it might be too much trouble, so I’m not looking right now,” she said, revealing how she too was looking for a new home when the law was passed.

“It doesn’t matter if I have a green card or am a citizen, I still have a Chinese face,” she said. “I really felt the discrimination.”

Citing potential legal complications that could arise, she described how she and her family have halted their search for a home for now and the foreseeable future.

She added that with her daughter heading off to college in a few years, she no longer has ties to the Sunshine State and is now about to move.

Clay Zhu, an attorney who received the 2022 California Lawyer of the Year Award for his work in civil rights, also spoke out strongly against the law.

“Florida has gone far beyond what is necessary to combat the so-called CCP [Chinese Communist Party] influence,” he said.

“We believe this is a form of discrimination based on race, based on national origin and based on visa status.”

He has worked with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to sue the state, while other states are considering similar laws.

The lawsuit is currently making its way through the federal courts, as Zhu compared DeSantis’ law to the first major directive restricting immigration to the US, the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.

“People feel as if they are being treated as spies or agents of the Chinese government,” Zhu said. “It’s very unfair and also very un-American.”

He further described how some mortgage lenders and brokers in the state have started refusing to work with customers with Chinese passports – even if they are legal residents.

Teresa Jin, a local mortgage lender, expanded on this, telling CNN how she no longer works with clients who are not permanent residents or citizens of the US due to uncertainty about the new law.

Under SB 264, citizens of not only China, but also Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria are prohibited from purchasing real estate within 10 miles of any “military installation or critical infrastructure facility” in Florida.

However, the law goes a step further for Chinese citizens without the permanent right to live in the country, banning the group from purchasing real estate anywhere in the state.

But there is a gray area around the definition of ‘domiciled’ in the law, and some lenders like Jin have decided not to do business with Chinese nationals as a result.

That’s because she’s wary of unseen legal repercussions, she said, adding that it has caused her to miss out on loans scooped up by less careful lenders.

“The law has caused us so much confusion,” she said. “It certainly hurts business.”

The saga surrounding Florida and Chinese citizens and immigrants began last year, when DeSantis signed the divisive bill into law.

“Florida is taking action to counter the greatest geopolitical threat to the United States – the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),” he said – citing incidents such as the Chinese surveillance balloon shot down over Montana earlier that year.

Additionally, apps like TikTok have come under scrutiny for their ties to China.

In terms of land, the country currently owns just under 350,000 acres of agricultural and non-agricultural land in the US – less than one percent of the country’s foreign-owned land.

The law is currently being challenged in court as lawmakers continue to warn that Chinese land purchases – especially agricultural lands – pose a threat to the US.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, foreign investors own 5.7 percent of private farmland in Florida.

Last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau banned foreign investors from buying homes in Canada as a means to cool the overheated housing market. Most of the country’s foreign investors come from China and India.

The ban came into effect on January 1, 2023, after immigrants drove up real estate prices by 38 percent. Census data released in October showed immigrants now make up 23 percent of Canada’s population, with most coming from Asia.