U.S. President Donald Trump on February 25 unveiled plans to sell "gold card" residency permits for $5 million each and said Russian oligarchs may be eligible.
Trump announced the program at the White House, saying the “gold cards” will be available in about two weeks.
"You have a green card; this is a gold card. We're going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million," Trump said.
Proceeds from sales will be used to reduce the deficit, Trump said. The program will be aimed at “people with money” who will create jobs, the president 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,” Trump said.
Applicants for the new gold cards would be carefully vetted and it may be possible for wealthy Russians to apply.
"I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people. It's possible," Trump said. "They're not as wealthy as they used to be. I think they can. I think they can afford $5 million."
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters that the “Trump Gold Card” would replace the EB-5 Immigration Investor Program, which was created by Congress in 1990 to generate foreign investment. EB-5 visas are available to people who spend about $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people.
Lutnick said the new "gold card" would raise the price to $5 million and do away with fraud in the EB-5 program. He emphasized that money from the sale of the new cards will be used to reduce the deficit.
The Congressional Research Service reported in 2023 that some members of Congress and other observers have long expressed concerns about fraud in the EB-5 program. It said this occurs when applicants misrepresent their wealth, lie about their identity, or fail to make the required investments.
More than half of the EB-5 visas approved in 2022 went to citizens of China, according to the report.
Trump, who has made the deportation of undocumented migrants a priority, said the new card would be a route to U.S. citizenship.
"A lot of people are going to want to be in this country, and they'll be able to work and provide jobs and build companies," Trump said. "It'll be people with money."
Trump estimated that the United States would be able to “sell maybe a million of these cards.”
About 8,000 people obtained investor visas through the EB-5 program in the 12-month period ending September 30, 2022, according to the Homeland Security Department's most recent Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.
