President Donald Trump revealed an initiative that involves introducing a “gold card” program aimed at affluent immigrants seeking work in the U.S., which includes an opportunity for citizenship.
This new plan is set to replace the EB-5 visa program, carrying a huge price tag of around $5 million per applicant.
“We’re going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card. This is a gold card,” Trump explained to reporters gathered in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
He described the gold card concept as “green card privileges plus,” offering its holders a direct “route to citizenship” within the United States.
“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 added confidently.
According to the president, the program is expected to roll out in “two weeks.”
“It’s somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication,” Trump elaborated.
“It’s a road to citizenship for people, and essentially people of wealth or people of great talent, where people of wealth pay for those people of talent to get in, meaning companies will pay for people to get in and to have long, long term status in the country.”
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who stood by Trump during the announcement, slammed the existing EB-5 visa system, describing it as “full of nonsense and make-believe and fraud.”
“We’re going to end the EB-5 program and we’re going to replace it with the Trump gold card,” Lutnick said, supporting the president’s comments.
Lutnick clarified that individuals granted the new card would undergo intense vetting.
“We’re going to make sure they’re wonderful world class global citizens,” he added. “They can come to America, the president can give them a green card. They can invest in America.“
He also mentioned that the substantial fee associated with the program would help reduce the federal deficit.
Trump stated that the distribution of gold cards would not rely on a lottery. Instead, he said,
“You’re getting big taxpayers, big job producers, and we’ll be able to sell maybe a million of these cards, maybe more than that.”
He floated the idea of selling upwards of ten million gold cards as a possible way to slash the federal deficit further. “It could be great, maybe it will be fantastic,” Trump mused.
The president boldly predicted that the program, if successful, could bring in up to $55 trillion in revenue, highlighting its potential as a major tool for foreign investment.
The outgoing EB-5 visa program, which has been under the administration of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), previously allowed foreign investors to gain permanent residency by injecting funds into U.S.-based businesses.
Its cost, typically around $20,000, necessitated an investment of approximately $1 million to qualify.
Trump argued that visa programs of this nature need to be more sophisticated to guarantee economic benefits for the country. “Why should we give them away?” he asked rhetorically.
According to Trump, the executive branch can establish the gold card program without requiring input or action from Congress.
“We don’t need Congress … It’s a path to citizenship, a very strong path to citizenship, but we’re not doing citizenship. For that I’d have to get Congress,” he specified.
Statistics from the Department of Homeland Security reveal that 8,000 individuals secured investor visas in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022.
Separately, reports surfaced on Tuesday about the Trump administration’s plans to create a registry requiring immigrants without legal status to provide their personal details or face criminal penalties.
Documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal show that the plan would mandate illegal migrants aged 14 and older to submit fingerprints and home addresses or risk up to six months in prison and a $5,000 fine if non-compliant.
The initiative is said to focus on undocumented immigrants who haven’t had contact with the government within the past 30 days, whether through requests for work permits or asylum applications.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem outlined the policy in a memo, stating that undocumented individuals in the U.S. are at a crossroads.
“They can return home and follow the legal process to come to the United States or they can deal with the consequences of continuing to violate our laws,” she wrote.
Why does this seem like throwing the Left a bone?
I remember we were saying something about “stopping reckless spending.”
Get the Rich immigrants into the US alone
Did I mistake the President? He said he would be selling access to qualified and vetted people who could bring business and jobs to America, imo.
H1B are the target here. These are the imports that Musk was talking about. Trump is disappointing in this move. He must believe we do not have the talent to satisfy the businesses that are hounding him and this nation to bring these folks in via a legal meants.
For the first time ever I disagree with Trump and I have voted for him since 2015 when he won the presidency. Why do these businesses insist they need the imports from India, Philipean, etc.? Search here. We have young folks here going to school for these positions.
I worked with India’s imports and even helped export US jobs to India. The tech group did not import but only because they were entrenched and it could not be imported. The programmers were irreplaceable and now I really understand their thinking. I was asked to stay as the American who would interface with what went to India. I left as that was going to be a nightmare. That was also my last job, I just retired and had health issues after that awful experience.
My thoughts are this is a cost savings for businesses or so they think. A way around the USA wages that people in the country want. Training is expensive but done right you get what you want. It happense with the imports too! I also think the imports are far more tolerant to employers who squeeze more work from workers. Maybe Musk and the rich owners like a more compliant bunch to work with? Hum?
I am making this observation as a retired CPA, BSA, Programmer in mainframe and front end systems. I did not work as a programmer but could read and understand several languages used when I was working in the mid 2018 time frame. I looked for errors and flaws in the process and good interfaces for users who had to work with what was made via the programmers for the users jobs. And definintely accounting errors and potential flaws.
That made me not a favorite of the programmers but it was what I was good at and trained for. However, it has also made me aware of the loss of jobs to other countries. I believe that for employers the gain is short lived. And eventually the cost to exporting work or importing employees from other counties is a short lived gain and this green versus gold immigration cards is BS! Just more compliant workers until they are in charge and large.! Just short term gains and eventually the compliant workers will push for home or just more!
And I can also add that these types of imports will eventually attain full control of those systems. I can also say they are even more fierce about their territory equating to all new hires than what I have normally experienced. That will make it extremely hard for any owner to change those systems in the future. That is a warning to employers especially if they are absent a lot as the mix of employees changes! It is a two edged sword for certain and as an employer you had better be prepared for pressure eventually to outsource or move those systems to whatever country your imported staff is from!!!
For the first time ever I disagree with Trump and I have voted for him since 2015 when he won the presidency.
Regardless of the issue, if there is ANYONE you haven’t disagreed with for a decade, you are a huge part of the problem
why not give that money to people here in the states who are bright but lack the economic means to get a degree? makes more sense than importing rich people who wont work a day, but will pay minimum wage to us? I love trump, and what he is trying to do, but this I am skeptical of . sl
Other countries have been doing this successfully for many decades. Australia and New Zealand are notable examples.