Donald Trump seems to be in the news frequently. Although it’s not unusual for a United States president to make the news, the number of controversial things being done seems to be off the charts.
This includes an option that Donald Trump is making available to fast-track citizenship into the United States. It involves a ‘Gold Card’ visa that could be sold for $5 million to rich migrants.
According to reports, plans are being reviewed by Donald Trump and his administration to launch this ‘Gold Card’ visa. If a wealthy immigrant wanted to come to the United States, this would give him the fast track to do so. It does come with quite a price tag.
Donald Trump said that it would replace the current EB-5 visa route and would only be made available to millionaire migrants who have been vetted. He spoke about this at the Oval Office on February 25, saying: “We’re going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card. This is a gold card.”
Although more details are needed, the gold card would be similar to a green card but it would be more like a ‘green card privileges plus’ option. It may be ready to launch within two weeks.
The president also hinted at the possibility that it would offer a unique route to citizenship that was never available before. He said: “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.”
US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick referred to it as the ‘Trump Gold Card’. He also is not a fan of the current EB-5 visa, referring to it as being ‘full of nonsense and make-believe fraud.’
The EB-5 visa comes at a price tag of around $20,000 and is for overseas investors who are going to be investing a large sum into a US company. Lutnick said: “We’re going to end the EB-5 program and we’re going to replace it with the Trump gold card.”
He also revealed that the gold card would be reserved for ‘wonderful world-class global citizens’.
According to the White House team, the gold visa program could raise $55 trillion in revenue. It could also bring in foreign investors to the United States.
Trump 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. It could be great, maybe it will be fantastic.”
The president also said that the loophole doesn’t require approval from Congress. He said: “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.”
