Until 2025, an H-1B engineer or an L-1 transferee could buy with an FHA loan as a non-permanent resident with work authorization. Many articles, calculators and loan officers still describe it that way. HUD's own rulebook no longer does. If FHA was your plan, this is what changed and where the route runs now.
FHA's old handbook had a section for non-permanent resident borrowers, and work visa holders fit under it. HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-09 removed that section in its entirety, eliminating eligibility for non-permanent residents. It applied to FHA case numbers assigned on or after May 25, 2025, and lenders could apply it earlier.
What replaced it is a short list: lawful permanent residents, and citizens of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. No visa category appears on it. An H-1B, L-1, O-1, TN or E-3 holder buying today is outside FHA, regardless of employer, salary or how many renewals they have behind them.
FHA's list names lawful permanent residents. Until you hold that status, plan on a conventional loan. Once approved, FHA opens on the same terms as a citizen.
The letter governs eligibility for new FHA-insured financing. It also revised FHA's streamline refinance sections, so confirm eligibility before planning an FHA-to-FHA refinance.
USDA requires citizens, non-citizen nationals or qualified aliens under 8 U.S.C. 1641. Work visas are not on that list either.
Conventional lending. Fannie Mae's rule for non-citizens was written in 2015 and HUD's letter did not touch it. Fannie buys loans made to lawful non-permanent residents on the same terms as citizens, which includes low down payment conventional options where the rest of the file qualifies.
The practical difference is who writes the documentation checklist: under Fannie's rule it is the individual lender, not the agency. That is why visa files vary so much from one lender to the next, covered on conventional loans for visa holders. For every status side by side, see programs by status.
Primary sources: HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-09 (March 26, 2025); HUD Handbook 4000.1 Update 17 (11/26/2025) II.A.1.b.ii(A)(9); 7 CFR 3555.151(b) and 8 U.S.C. 1641(b); Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-2-02. Visa rules are set by immigration law, not by this page; nothing here is a loan commitment.
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