Trump says he will offer ‘gold cards’ for $5 million pathway to citizenship, replacing investment visas

President Donald Trump announced intentions to provide a «gold card» visa with a road to citizenship for $5 million, replacing a 35-year-old investor visa.

“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,” Trump stated Tuesday in the Oval Office.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated that the Trump Gold Card will replace EB-5 visas in two weeks. EB-5s were developed by Congress in 1990 to encourage foreign investment and are available to individuals who invest around $1 million in a firm that employs at least ten people.

Lutnick stated that the gold card, which is actually a green card, or permanent legal residency, would enhance the cost of admittance for investors while eliminating the fraud and «nonsense» that he claims characterizes the EB-5 program. It would contain a road to citizenship, as do other green cards.

According to the most recent Yearbook of Immigration Statistics from the Homeland Security Department, around 8,000 persons acquired investment visas during the 12-month period ending September 30, 2022. In 2021, the Congressional Research Service found that EB-5 visas face fraud risks, including verification that money were received legitimately.