US President Donald Trump has announced a new immigration initiative to replace an existing visa program for wealthy foreign investors—a “gold card” that could be bought for a fee of $5 million as a route to US citizenship.
Trump has said that he will replace the existing “EB-5” immigrant investor visa program, which allowed foreign investors who have invested large amounts of money that create jobs in the US, to become permanent residents with a “gold card,” Reuters reported.
The EB-5 visa program granted “green cards” to foreigners who promised to invest in US businesses.
“We are going to be selling a gold card. We are going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million,” Trump told reporters.
JUST IN: President Trump announces a new immigration “Gold Card” that will be sold to immigrants for $5 million.
The Gold Card is a premium version of a Green Card, according to Trump, and will provide immigrants with a pathway to citizenship.
“We’re gonna be selling a gold… pic.twitter.com/U3Bx3Nogfd
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 25, 2025
“It’s going to give you green card privileges plus its going to be a route to (American) citizenship, and wealthy people would be coming into our country by buying this card,” the president added.
The details about the scheme is yet to come out in the following weeks. On the question of whether Russian oligarchs could qualify for “gold cards”, Trump said, “Yeah, possibly. Hey. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”
What Is EB-5 Visa Program?
The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program was created by the US Congress in 1990 to “stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors,” the USCIS website states.
The EB-5 visa allowed foreign investors to gain US residency if they created or preserved jobs through capital investments.
The minimum investments under the visa program was set at $1,050,000 or $800,000 for economically distressed areas.
However, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the EB-5 visa program ‘full of nonsense’ and said the US government is going to end the program.
“The EB-5 program … it was full of nonsense, make believe and fraud, and it was a way to get a green card that was low price. 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,” Lutnick told reporters on Tuesday.
The visa program was last reviewed during former President Joe Biden’s tenure in 2022, where the minimum investment requirements were raised to the current levels.
