President Donald Trump will in the coming weeks authorize a program that sells $5 million “gold cards,” or investor visas, to wealthy individuals who seek permanent U.S. residency.
“We’re going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card. This is a gold card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million, and that’s going to give you green card privileges, plus it’s going to be a route to citizenship,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Tuesday. “And wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card. 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.”
The program would replace the EB-5 program, which gives green cards to foreigners who invest $900,000 to $1.8 million into U.S. projects and create at least ten jobs stateside. Family members of such investors also receive green cards. The program has an annual quota of 10,000 visas.
Congress initiated the program in 1990 to “stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors,” the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says on its website.
“The EB-5 program . . . it was full of nonsense, make believe and fraud, and it was a way to get a green card that was low price,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said. “So, the president said, rather than having this sort of ridiculous EB-5 program, we’re going to end the EB-5 program. We’re going to replace it with the Trump gold card.”
The EB-5 investor visa program has been criticized in the past for primarily benefiting wealthy Chinese investors who finance development projects. In fiscal year 2022, Chinese nationals received 6,125 of the 10,855 visas handed out.
Lutnick also said that the U.S. could use money earned through the program to reduce the federal deficit.
“They’ll have to go through vetting, of course, to make sure they’re wonderful world-class global citizens,” Lutnick said. “The president can give them a green card, and they can invest in America, and we can use that money to reduce our deficit.”