Gold Card will be better than Green Card: Trump on new visa scheme

The Gold Card will cost $5 million and will be available very soon, said Trump

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday pitched a new visa scheme, dubbed the "gold card", as a way to balance the federal budget. Speaking to a joint session of Congress, he said the visa—priced at $5 million—would bring in wealthy, job-creating individuals who would pay taxes and contribute to the economy.  

 

What Trump said about the gold card  

 

1. It will be called the "gold card" and has been developed in great detail.  

2. It will cost $5 million and will be available very soon.  

3. It is similar to the green card but "better and more sophisticated."  

4. It will bring in "brilliant, hardworking, job-creating people."  

5. Holders will have to pay taxes in the US.  

6. It will help reduce the national debt.  

7. The goal is to balance the federal budget, something he says hasn't been done in 24 years.  

8. It will replace the 35-year-old EB-5 investor visa programme.  

9. The visa is part of a plan to remove criminals while attracting wealthier applicants.  

10. The "gold card" offers a pathway to US citizenship.  

 

The Trump administration on February 25 unveiled plans to offer a "gold card" visa with a path to citizenship for $5 million. The new visa option will replace the 35-year-old EB-5 visas for investors, the President said at the time. He claimed that while his administration focuses on removing criminals, this scheme would bring in high-value individuals who can contribute to the economy.  

 

The announcement marks a shift from existing immigration policies, with a clear focus on attracting wealthier applicants. The administration has not yet detailed the timeline for the visa's launch, but Trump indicated it would be available "very, very soon." 

Last week, Trump said a new visa scheme would allow American businesses to recruit top graduates from Ivy League and other leading universities.  

 

“I get calls from, as an example, companies where they want to hire the No. 1 student at the school, person comes from India, China, Japan, lots of different places, and they go to Harvard to Wharton School of Finance, they go to Yale,” he said.  

 

“These companies can go and buy a gold card, and they can use it as a matter of recruitment,” Trump said. He predicted strong demand, adding, “I happen to think it’s going to sell like crazy. It’s a bargain.”  

 

Trump has suggested that selling one million of these gold cards could generate $5 trillion for the US government, which he said could help pay down national debt. However, immigration experts believe the actual number of individuals who could afford it would be far lower.  

 

How does that compare with the golden visas offered elsewhere?  

 

Investor visas are common worldwide. According to Henley & Partners, over 100 countries, including Dubai, New Zealand, and several European nations, offer similar “golden visas” to attract wealthy individuals. However, the proposed gold card may struggle to compete with the schemes available elsewhere.  

 

"The investment threshold for the majority of other golden visas remains significantly lower than Trump’s proposed ‘gold card’, available to those investing at a minimum of $5 million. The US government’s initiative is clearly targeted at ultra-high-net-worth individuals – in comparison, Greece and Portugal’s minimum investment threshold starts around the $265,500 mark. These cost-effective options, combined with the benefits of the Mediterranean lifestyle, will continue to attract wealthy immigrants. The pull factors of access to the Schengen Zone, favourable tax regimes, and long-term security are too great to ignore," said Armand Arton, CEO of Arton Capital.  

 

"Less wealthy people who hoped to build businesses and lives in the US may be locked out of the new golden visa,” said Russell A Stamets, partner at Circle of Counsels.