Trump says US will sell $5 million ‘gold card’ to wealthy foreigners
Donald Trump
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would sell a “Golden Card” worth $5 million to wealthy foreigners, granting them the right to live and work in the U.S. and providing a pathway to citizenship for a fee of $5 million.
Trump said from the Oval Office, “We will sell a Golden Card. You have a Green Card. This is a Golden Card. We will put a price on this card of about $5 million, and it will give you the privileges of a Green Card, plus it will be a way to get citizenship. Wealthy people will come to our country by purchasing this card.”
Congress established the EB-5 program in 1992, which can grant Green Cards to immigrants who invest at least $1.05 million, or $800,000 in economically distressed areas known as Targeted Employment Areas, to create jobs for U.S. workers, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
Trump and his family’s businesses have also benefited from the program to fund major real estate development projects.
Trump said the sale of the cards would begin in about two weeks and suggested selling millions of these cards.
When asked if he would consider selling the cards to the Russian oligarchs, Trump replied, “Yes, probably. I know some very nice Russian oligarchs.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was standing alongside Trump, stated that the card would replace the government’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program, which allows foreign investors to inject funds into U.S. projects that create jobs and then apply for immigration visas to the U.S.
Lutnick added, “They will have to go through a background check, of course, to make sure they are great global citizens.”
The EB-5 program, created by Congress in 1992, allows Green Cards for immigrants who make an investment of at least $1.05 million or $800,000 in distressed economic areas called Targeted Employment Areas, aimed at creating jobs for U.S. workers, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
Trump and his family’s companies have also used the program to finance large real estate projects.
The program faced criticism from bipartisan lawmakers during Trump’s first term, with many warning that it had strayed from its original purpose and needed reform.
In 2019, the Trump administration moved to raise the minimum investment for targeted economic areas to $900,000 and $1.8 million for other locations, but a federal judge struck down the change in 2021, ruling that the acting Secretary of Homeland Security who authorized the rule had not been properly appointed.
The program was last renewed in 2022 under the Biden administration, with the minimum investment requirements raised to their current levels.
