Some countries may have provisions in their immigration law about owning property, but the United States is not one of them (although I believe there is a provision for investing a certain amount of money into starting new companies).
Which means if you purchased a house it is very possible that you would not be allowed to live in it. The purchasing of the property would have no affect on your legal status whatsoever.
I don’t think there are any legal restrictions on owning property if you are not a citizen or permanent resident - I know I personally purchased a condo jointly with my American fiancee when I was still on an H1-B visa.
I found it very strange that I was able to get a car loan at a dealership when I first moved to the United States - five days in with a temporary work permit and they were happy to give me a three year loan - of course the interest rate was not very good (for me, anyway).
I was on a Student Visa in the UK for two years and owned a flat. It made no difference. I have a multiple entry visa for the UK right now and don’t have a flat. Again irrelevent. Your ownership of land property is irrelevent in most places, if you have the right to be in the country you can own 10 properties for all it matters. If you don’t, well tough My Aunt and late uncle own a rather expensive house near St Johns Wood in London. When their visa expired they could not go to it until they got a new visa. In their case it was less important, they are in the UK for the summer only, they renewed it in the spring.
And the OP is mistaken for re Tourist Visas. Many countries issue visas that are valid for many years.
As a clafification, it is not any easier for a Canadian to migrate permanently to the US than someone from another country. It is easier (through NAFTA) for a Canadian to get a temporary work visa in the US - but to my knowledge there are no special provisions for Canadians who want to obtain a green card. And no matter how many years a Canadian lives in the US with a temporary visa (which must be renewed at least once a year), there are no more advantages when it comes to getting a green card.
I got a one-year Mexican permanent residency permit just by going into the Detroit Consulate and filling out the form. It entitles me to work only for my USA company, though.
If it is a one-year residency permit it is not permanent. This sounds very similar to what I talked about in a previous post - where through a NAFTA agreement there is a easier process to get visa’s between Canada/US & Mexico. These visa’s only apply for your work with the particular company on the visa. If you switch jobs you need to get a new visa.
True, but the standard of proof was non-existent. I showed up, filled out a form, and came back three days later to pick it up.
Of course my wife is still Mexican, so I have no doubt that I could pick up a permanent residency easily. Heck, I almost have enough cumulative time to naturalize (which isn’t really on par with naturalization in the USA, such as, still can’t vote, etc.).