President Donald Trump outlined a plan on Tuesday to introduce a "gold card" program aimed at wealthy immigrants seeking to work in the United States. This initiative would provide eligible people with an opportunity to get a citizenship in exchange for a fee. However, the fee will be a hefty amount and won't be feasible for many.
According to Trump, the new card would take the place of the existing EB-5 visa program and would require an investment of around $5 million per applicant. "We're going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card. This is a gold card," Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office.
Getting Citizenship at a Hefty Price
The President described the proposed "gold card" program as an enhanced version of a green card, granting holders additional benefits along with a pathway to U.S. citizenship. "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, boasting that it had "never been done before."
He indicated that the program was set to roll out within "two weeks."
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said that the "gold card" initiative would take the place of the existing EB-5 visa program, which he condemned as being "full of nonsense and make-believe and fraud."
"We're going to end the EB-5 program and we're going to replace it with the Trump gold card," Lutnick said.
He said that all "gold card" recipients would be fully vetted. "We're going to make sure they're wonderful world class global citizens," he added.
Lutnick also said that the high cost of the gold card would contribute to lowering the federal deficit.
He clarified that the "gold cards" would not be awarded through a lottery system. "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," Trump said.
Another Revenue Generating Measure
The president projected that the program could generate up to $55 trillion in revenue if it became a widely adopted option for foreign investors. "It could be great, maybe it will be fantastic," Trump said.
The EB-5 visa program, managed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, provides foreign investors with permanent residency. Originally established to attract international investment, the program requires applicants to invest around $1 million in a U.S. business, with associated costs totaling around $20,000.
Trump emphasized that visa programs should be more advanced to ensure the United States benefits financially. "Why should we give them away?" he asked.
Trump said that the executive branch had the authority to create the program without needing approval from Congress.
"We don't need Congress ... It's a path to citizenship, a very strong path to citizenship, but we're not doing citizenship. For that I'd have to get Congress," he said.
The president also admitted that Russian citizens could potentially obtain a "gold card" as long as they were willing to pay the required fee. "I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people," Trump said. "They're not quite as wealthy as they used to be."
