Trump Gold Card: Will US Presiden’s $5 million visa replace green cards issued via EB-5 program?

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) announced that the United States is introducing a “gold card” for rich immigrants who want to move to the country. Priced at $5 million, the gold card will allow these immigrants the right to live and work in the country, with a pathway to citizenship.

Trump said as the new visas get sold, they would bring in job creators and could be used to reduce the US national deficit.

However, it was not clear how the process would unfold. Trump said that details of the scheme will be revealed in two weeks, while the sales

“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,” the US President said in a press conference at the Oval Office.

The new gold card would be a pathway to highly prized US citizenship, he said.

“A lot of people are going to want to be in this country, and they’ll be able to work and provide jobs and build companies,” Donald Trump said, adding, “It will be people with money.”

Will Gold Card replace Green Card?

Gold Card is being seen as a premium version of the traditional Green Card, which is currently issued under the employment-based fifth preference category or EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program.

This program was created in 1990 through the Immigration Act of 1990 to “stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors,” as per the USCIS website.

“It’s going to give you green card privileges plus it’s going to be a route to (American) citizenship, and wealthy people would be coming into our country by buying this card,” Trump said, speaking about the gold card.

EB-5 visa ‘full of nonsense’

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the EB- program “full of nonsense”.

“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. 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,” he said.

Homeland Security Department’s latest Yearbook of Immigration Statistics data shows that around 8,000 people obtained investor visas in the 12-month period ending September 30, 2022. While the number of EB-5 visas that are issued is capped, Trump indicated that the federal government could sell 10 million “gold cards” to reduce the deficit in the country.