The questions are the same everywhere and they are not personal. An institution that asks nothing is a worse sign than one that asks thoroughly.
This page sets out the categories. What any specific institution requires from a resident of your country is a question for that institution, and one worth asking before you choose it. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier for the current position on any building we cover.
Every United States institution you deal with will want to establish four things: who you are, where you live, what your tax status is, and where the money came from.
That is the whole of it. The specific documents differ by institution and by your country of residence, but the categories do not, and a buyer who arrives with all four already assembled has a materially easier transaction than one who assembles them a document at a time under deadline.
None of this is discretionary and none of it is aimed at you. It is the standard the institution is held to.
A valid passport is the baseline. Institutions frequently want a second form of identification, and requirements differ on whether documents must be certified, notarised, apostilled or presented in person.
Where documents are not in English, certified translation is often required. Arranging that in advance is straightforward and arranging it at short notice is not.
If you hold more than one nationality, expect to disclose it. Institutions ask, and inconsistency between what you disclosed and what appears elsewhere creates delay for no reason.
Utility bills, bank statements and government correspondence are the usual proofs, and there is generally a recency requirement.
The recurring problem is inconsistency. An address on a passport that differs from the address on a statement that differs from the address given on a form is not a scandal, but each mismatch generates a query and each query costs days.
Decide on your address of record before you begin, use it consistently across every institution and every document, and explain any legitimate difference proactively rather than waiting to be asked.
United States institutions are required to establish the tax status of their customers, and there are standard forms on which a non United States person certifies their status. Which form applies and how it is completed depends on your circumstances and on whether you are an individual or an entity.
There are also international information exchange frameworks under which financial account information is reported between jurisdictions. Whether and how those affect you is a matter for a qualified tax adviser in your own country and, where relevant, in the United States.
We name these because they exist and because a buyer should not meet them for the first time at a signing table. We do not advise on them, and any specific question belongs with a tax professional.
Source of funds is where this particular money came from. Source of wealth is how you came to have money at all. Institutions ask both, and they are not the same question.
A salaried professional buying from accumulated savings has a simple answer to both. A buyer whose funds arise from a business sale, an inheritance, an investment realisation or a distribution from a family structure has a longer answer, and a longer answer is entirely normal.
This has its own note, because it is the category that generates the most anxiety and the most avoidable delay.
Where a purchase is made through a company, trust or other structure, institutions will look through it. They will want the formation documents, evidence of who controls it, and identification of the beneficial owners.
Beneficial ownership reporting requirements in the United States have been the subject of legislation and litigation, and the position has changed more than once. That means it is a question for a Florida attorney at the time you are buying, not something to take from a web page.
The practical point is unchanged: if you use a structure, the people behind it will be identified, and everyone involved should expect that from the beginning.
Passport and second identification, current and legible. Proof of address, recent. Certified translations where documents are not in English. The tax certification your adviser tells you applies. A clear written account of where the funds came from, with the statements, contracts or letters that evidence it. Entity documents if you are using a structure.
Assembled once and kept together, this folder serves your bank, the escrow agent, a lender if you use one, and the title company. Assembled piecemeal, the same material takes weeks and several rounds of email.
Buyers who do this find the process unremarkable. That is the objective.
Every institution in the chain wants the same four categories, and a buyer who has them ready moves through in days rather than weeks. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier and we will tell you what to prepare for your situation and introduce you to institutions and advisers that handle foreign buyers as a matter of routine.
We hold no listings and we are not the developer. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier and we will go through the current position on any building we cover, including the parts a sales gallery would rather skip. Where a question is legal, tax or structuring, we introduce you to advisers who handle that properly rather than answering it ourselves.