President Donald Trump suggested the introduction of a “gold card” visa on Tuesday afternoon — a potential opportunity for foreign investors to buy their way to American citizenship.
The U.S. currently offers a similar opportunity through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which was established in 1990 and is administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). According to USCIS’s website, the visa is open to investors who “make the necessary investment in a commercial enterprise in the United States,” as well as “plan to create or preserve 10 permanent full-time jobs for qualified U.S. workers.”
But Trump’s recent suggestion would replace the EB-5 program, and instead, the Republican president plans to propose a “gold card” visa to the tune of $5 million.
“We are going to be selling a gold card,” Trump explained to reporters. “We are going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million.”
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“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,” the president continued.
When a reporter asked if it was possible for a Russian oligarch to obtain the card, Trump answered in the affirmative.
“Yeah, possibly,” the U.S. leader replied. “Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”
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At least one other member of the Trump administration has signaled support for the measure. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick accused the EB-5 program of being “full of nonsense, make-believe and fraud.”
“It was a way to get a green card that was low price,” Lutnick said. “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.”
More information about the “gold card” is expected to come in the next few weeks. Other countries have similar visas: the United Kingdom offers a Tier 1 (Investor) visa, which allows a path to citizenship for foreign nationals willing to invest five to 10 million pounds.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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