President Donald Trump has announced the official launch of his long-promised “gold card” program, which offers legal status and a pathway to US citizenship for individuals willing to pay $1 million and corporations shelling out $2 million per foreign-born employee.
The program, reports news outlet NDTV, is meant to replace the existing EB-5 visas, went live on Wednesday as Trump revealed the details surrounded by business leaders in the White House’s Roosevelt Room.
The president sees the new version of the visa as a means for the US to attract and retain top talent while generating significant revenue for the country.
Trump has been promoting the gold card program for months, initially suggesting a $5 million price tag before revising it to the current $1 million and $2 million pricing scheme.
He stated that all funds collected through the program will “go to the US government” and predicted that billions would flow into a Treasury Department account “where we can do things positive for the country.”
‘Much more powerful’ than a green card, says Trump
Despite being called a “gold card,” the program effectively offers a green card, granting permanent legal residency with the opportunity for citizenship. Trump touted the program, saying, “Basically, it’s a green card but much better. Much more powerful, a much stronger path.”
The president made no mention of job creation requirements for applying corporations or overall caps on the program, which currently exist under the EB-5 visa.
Instead, he focused on complaints from business leaders who had been unable to recruit outstanding graduates from US universities due to their foreign nationality and lack of permission to stay in the country. “You can’t hire people from the best colleges because you don’t know whether or not you can keep the person,” Trump said.
Despite building his political career around hard-line immigration policies and border security, Trump has drawn criticism from leading voices of his “Make America Great Again” movement for suggesting that skilled immigrants should be allowed into the US.
The gold card program could facilitate this, potentially contradicting his administration’s recent mass deportation pushes and sweeping immigration crackdowns targeting cities like Los Angeles and Charlotte.
Thorough vetting process and earning potential emphasised
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick assured that the program will include a $15,000 fee for applicant vetting and that the thorough background scrutiny process would “make sure these people absolutely qualify to be in America.”
He also noted that current green card holders earn less than the average American, something Trump aims to change with the gold card program. “So, same visas, but now just full of the best people,” Lutnick said.
Trump’s gold card program joins the ranks of “golden visas” offered by dozens of countries worldwide to wealthy individuals, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Canada, and Italy.
The president emphasized that the program means the US is “getting somebody great coming into our country because we think these will be some tremendous people,” singling out top US college graduates from China, India, and France as potential gold card recipients.
Millionaires and billionaires among those bidding farewell to UK
Since Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled her budget, laden with eye-watering stealth taxes, the talk of an exodus of Britain’s young, wealthy, and mobile population has only intensified. Recent emigration figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have confirmed this worrying trend, revealing that a staggering 257,000 Britons have decided “up with this we cannot put” and have chosen to leave the country in search of greener pastures.
Of the departing Britons, it is estimated that approximately 16,500 are millionaires or even billionaires, representing a significant loss of wealth and potential investment for the nation. The exodus of these high-net-worth individuals has raised concerns about the long-term economic impact on the UK, as their departure could lead to a reduction in tax revenue and a brain drain of talented entrepreneurs and professionals.
