Trump’s ‘Gold Card’ Visa Program Offers Fast-Lane To U.S. Citizenship For Ultra-Rich

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced the launch of the $5 million “gold card” U.S. residency plan.

The card was first announced in February and was pitched as a replacement for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which allows investors in commercial enterprises to apply for residency and become permanent residents, also known as Green Card holders. The program was initially established in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through foreign investment, but the gold card replacement has a different goal.

President Donald Trump believes the U.S. could sell one million gold cards and reduce the national debt. The gold card will grant permanent U.S. residency to anyone willing to pay the $5 million fee.

However, the promised launch date has passed with no announcement.

Many experts have become skeptical of the program’s projected success, including Nuri Katz, founder of Apex Capital Partners.

“In my 34 years of experience, I have rarely seen anybody spend more than 10% of their net worth on an immigration program, and generally, it’s more like 5%. So you’ve got to be worth $100 million to be able to afford this,” Katz told Forbes. He added that it is unlikely one million of these gold cards will be sold, as Trump originally suggested.

“It looks to me like they’re backpedaling,” Katz said, discussing the current delay. “Now they have to make a decision of whether or not there really is interest because they are going to have to expend a lot of political capital in order to get it done.”

Lutnick said at least 1,000 gold cards have already been sold, raising $5 billion in one day.