The question we hear most from foreign clients is: "can I even buy an apartment here?" You can — but there are several parallel routes depending on nationality and status, and they cannot be mixed. Here is how it actually works, with the decrees and thresholds behind it, not general reassurance.
We put this together because we see the confusion first-hand: through our buyer representation service, a client finds a property that fits, then discovers it doesn't match the route they assumed they qualified for.
Several routes, and they don't mix
Rules for foreigners buying property in Uzbekistan aren't in one law. They sit across several presidential decrees and Cabinet of Ministers resolutions that run in parallel. Each route has its own nationality condition, its own price threshold, and its own effect on residence status. The sources are explicit on one point: routes don't combine — you can't take the lower threshold from one list and the residence-permit benefit from another.
Citizens of 108 listed countries: no residence permit needed
Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 384 lists 108 countries — including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, the UK and the US — whose citizens don't need an Uzbek residence permit to buy. The condition, under Presidential Decree UP-101, is that this route excludes land and covers new-build property only: in Tashkent city, Tashkent region and Samarkand, at least $150,000 under construction or $180,000 once commissioned. In other regions, $70,000 and $85,000 respectively. This purchase on its own does not grant permanent registration or a residence permit.
If you want a residence permit through the purchase
A separate list of 111 countries, named in Annex 6 to Presidential Decree UP-5611, follows a different route. The threshold is higher, but — unlike the route above — the purchase grants a property-linked residence permit: at least $300,000 in Tashkent city and region, $200,000 in Samarkand, Bukhara, Namangan, Andijan, Fergana or Khorezm, and $100,000 in Karakalpakstan and other regions. Per a June 2026 Azizov & Partners memo, this route covers both new-build and resale property.
If you already hold an Uzbek residence permit or ID card
If you already hold a residence permit or ID card, resale property can be bought under Resolution No. 726, subject to permanent-registration and status conditions. For a new-build in Tashkent city or region, the threshold isn't a fixed dollar figure — it's set in base calculation units (BCA), at 3,300 BCA. That detail matters: the BCA is periodically revised, so the sum and dollar equivalent on the date of your transaction can differ from what any article — including this one — states. As of August 2026, the BCA stood at UZS 412,000 (a threshold of roughly UZS 1,359,600,000); Presidential Decree UP-115 raises the BCA to UZS 440,000 from 1 September 2026, pushing the threshold to roughly UZS 1,452,000,000. This figure needs recalculating against the current date before you act on it, not taken from a past source.
Separate exemptions: IT Park and Vatandosh
IT-visa holders, qualifying IT Park residents and covered family members, and holders of a Vatandosh card (for ethnic Uzbeks living abroad) have the minimum-price and residence-permit requirements waived under their own, separate rules.
Land is not part of the deal
Across every route above, land is specifically excluded under UP-101: a foreign buyer acquires the property — the apartment, house or commercial unit — not the land beneath it. For an apartment in a multi-unit building, that's not meaningfully different from how ownership works in most countries. For a house with its own plot, it's a detail worth clarifying with the notary before signing, not after.
The notary and escrow since April 2026
The deal is formalised through a notary, who is required to verify the property's commissioning date and title history — a direct safeguard against buying something with an unclear status. A new escrow settlement procedure has applied to transactions since 1 April 2026, which already changed how deals were structured in March 2026. The procedural detail is worth confirming with the notary for your specific property; it's an easy place to miss a formality that surfaces later at registration.
The most common practical mistake
Two things trip people up most often: trying to blend routes — taking the lower threshold from the 108-country list while expecting the residence permit that only the 111-country list grants — and budgeting in dollars off an exchange rate quoted in an old article instead of recalculating the BCA on the transaction date. Both cost real money and real time.
Where we fit into this
We are not a notary, a law firm, and we don't negotiate price — that's a direct limit on our Buyer Representation service: we view properties on your behalf, tell you honestly what we see, and support you through each stage of the deal so you're not working through this list of decrees alone from another continent. Questions that go beyond a single property — which route fits your nationality, assembling the paperwork, working with the notary and registration — are covered by our administrative and legal support, which coordinates with verified specialists. If the question is broader than one apartment — whether this market is worth investing in at all — that's a separate service, investment consulting.
Sources
- Kursiv.uz, "Property laws in Uzbekistan: How to buy and rent as a foreigner," August 2026 overview — Decrees UP-101, UP-5611, UP-115, Resolutions No. 384 and No. 726
- Azizov & Partners, "Acquisition of Real Estate in Uzbekistan by non-resident individuals" memo, June 2026
Rules change, and thresholds are recalculated against the base calculation unit on the date of the transaction. This article was checked against public sources in October 2026 and is not a substitute for notarial or legal advice — confirm the current decree text and the conditions for your nationality before you buy.