President Trump said Tuesday a “gold card” will be sold for a whopping $5 million and will give the holders, wealthy people expected to invest in the U.S., the same privileges as a green card.

“We’re going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card, this is a gold card,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “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.”

He said “wealthy people” will be the ones to buy the card and enter the country.

“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,” he said.

New Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said the gold card program will be replacing the EB-5 immigrant investor program.

The EB-5 program, also known as the Golden Visa, allows foreigners to obtain a green card as long as they invest a certain amount of money that creates at least 10 jobs.

The investment is generally $1,050,000, though those that invest in special targeted areas can get an EB-5 visa by ponying up $800,000.

Mr. Trump’s $5 million threshold would represent a major increase.

The president said the new program will be rolled out in two weeks.

The program saw rampant fraud in the past, leading to calls to shut it down. Instead Congress raised the investment threshold and imposed new restrictions.

Chinese investors have dominated the EB-5 program in recent years.

Mr. Lutnick said the purchasers of the cards will be vetted.

“The president can give them a green card, and they can invest in America, and we can use that money to reduce our deficit,” he said. “Why do we give out lotteries of green cards? Why do we give out EB-5 for green cards? President of the United States understands that the right answer is, why don’t we eliminate the deficit of the United States of America instead?”

Mr. Trump said the “high level” people who purchase the cards will create jobs and that he thinks companies will pay to have people come to the U.S.

“You’re getting big taxpayers, big job producers, and we’ll be able to sell maybe a million of these cards, maybe more than that,” he said.

He called it a green card “but at a higher level of sophistication.”’

• Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.