Trump Floats “Gold Card” Visa Plan with $5 Million Price Tag, Path to Citizenship
President Donald Trump announced a plan to replace the existing EB-5 investor visa program with a new initiative dubbed the “Trump Gold Card,” offering a path to citizenship for a $5 million investment, The Associated Press reports.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump described the proposed visa as a benefit to the US economy.
“They’ll be wealthy and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it’s going to be extremely successful.”
According to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the “Trump Gold Card” program is slated to launch within two weeks and aims to replace the current EB-5 visa, which was established by Congress in 1990. The EB-5 program grants visas to foreign investors who invest around $1 million in a US business that creates at least 10 jobs.
Lutnick says the “gold card,” while technically a green card granting permanent legal residency, would raise the investment threshold and eliminate what he described as fraud and “nonsense” plaguing the existing EB-5 program. Like other green cards, it would provide a path to US citizenship.
Data from the Homeland Security Department shows some 8,000 individuals obtained investor visas in the year ending September 30, 2022. A 2021 Congressional Research Service report highlighted the potential for fraud within the EB-5 program, specifically concerning the legal origin of investment funds.
The concept of “golden visas,” granting residency or citizenship based on investment, is prevalent globally.
While Trump did not specify job creation requirements, he alluded to the potential for significant revenue generation, suggesting the sale of 10 million “gold cards” to reduce the national deficit.
Trump described the “gold card” as “somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication,” implying companies would sponsor individuals of “wealth or great talent” for long-term status.
