The Trump administration is rolling out a new initiative aimed at the affluent: a website dedicated to “gold card” visas, a concept that promises U.S. citizenship in exchange for a cool $5 million.
The newly launched site, TrumpCard.gov, proclaims “the Trump card is coming” and invites prospective applicants to submit their details for notifications on when applications will be accepted.
Visually, the card is adorned with President Donald Trump’s face and a price tag of $5 million, perhaps an artistic reflection of the administration’s perspective on wealth and immigration.
In a post on Truth Social dated June 11, Trump remarked, “Thousands have been calling and asking how they can sign up to ride a beautiful road in gaining access to the Greatest Country and Market anywhere in the World.” A lofty claim, indeed, if not a tad grandiose.
This initiative appears to be a contemporary iteration of the EB-5 investor visa program, as stated by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Under the existing EB-5 framework, investors can obtain a green card by investing a minimum of $1 million in a U.S. enterprise—or $800,000 in designated employment areas—while also creating ten full-time jobs. The annual cap on EB-5 visas is set at 7.1 percent of the global employment total.
However, the gold card program raises eyebrows among immigration policy experts. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, this new program does not align with the Immigration and Nationality Act, the foundational U.S. immigration statute. George Fishman, a senior legal fellow at the Center, pointed out that “the EB-5 program is one of the specified immigrant [visa] categories—the gold card program is not.” As such, it seems unlikely that a gold card would confer lawful permanent residence or citizenship, should legal challenges arise.
Fishman further suggested that if the gold card were to face judicial scrutiny, its survival rate in the Supreme Court would be dubious, although one could argue that the justices might surprise us.
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