United States President Donald Trump has announced a new “gold card” on Tuesday (February 25), which would be sold to wealthy individuals, giving them the right to live and work in the ‘land of opportunity’ and offering a path to citizenship.
“We’re going to be selling a
gold card,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “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 and that’s going to give you green card privileges, plus it’s going to be a route to citizenship. And wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card.”
The US president has suggested that millions of such cards could be sold, helping the country reduce its debt.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also said that the card would replace the government’s EB-5 immigrant investor visa programme, which allows foreign investors to pump money into US projects that create jobs and then apply for visas to immigrate to the US.
While Trump has touted the huge benefits of this gold card, experts aren’t so sure. Here’s why.
Who will qualify for a ‘gold card’?
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said Trump’s gold card would replace an existing programme in two weeks, so details about who would qualify and what the application process would look like should be available before then.
For now, all Trump has said is they will cost $5 million (Rs 43.7 crore).
Of recipients, 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.”
He added that companies, not just individuals, “will be able to buy gold cards. ”
What does the US already offer?
Congress created a programme called EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program in 1990 to create jobs and encourage foreign investment. Under it, investors who spent about $1 million (Rs 6.5 crore) on a company that employs at least 10 people can qualify for a visa and a pathway to permanent residency.
About 8,000 people obtained investor visas in the 12-month period ending September 30, 2022, according to the Homeland Security Department’s most recent Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.
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What do other countries offer?
Henley & Partners, which advises both governments and people on residence or citizenship by investment programmes, says more than 100 countries around the world offer or have offered “
golden visas” to wealthy individuals and investors. That list includes the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Canada and Italy, although some countries have tightened their restrictions or ended such schemes.
Under different initiatives in different countries, requirements include buying a house, making a financial investment or creating a certain number of jobs.
Basil Mohr-Elzeki, managing partner Henley & Partners North America, said the programmes often help countries meet investment goals. But they don’t always last.
Spain’s government scrapped its golden visa to allow people from outside the European Union to obtain residency permits if they invested more than half a million euros ($520,000) in real estate. The program was criticised for causing soaring housing prices. The UK ended its golden visa in 2022 over security concerns.
Will Trump’s ‘gold visa’ help US investment?
Mohr-Elzeki of Henley & Partners said despite the high price tag, there may be an appetite for it, but it remains to be seen what the parameters are.
“We don’t have that much information aside from the investment threshold and the intention,” he said. But generally these kind of programmes can help countries meet investment goals, depending on the goal, he said.
“We do think that there will be significant demand in this program,” he said. “We are just waiting on on the details of what frameworks that they’re going to be outlining.”
The key to whether it will be a success or not will less likely be the $5 million investment threshold and more to do with the process.
“Typically speaking, the lower the residency requirements, the more popular the programme as those wealthy individuals globally, they like options,” he said. “So they may be investing in the United States, but they may invest elsewhere as well — to have access to live in the States, access to live in Europe, access to live in the UAE. So all of these come into play. ”
What happens next?
If the new programme replaces the existing EB-5 program in two weeks, there are questions over what will happen to people in the existing scheme. Typically those people get grandfathered in to the new programme but there’s a possibility they might not be, said Mohr-Elzeki.
In 2022, Congress extended the EB-5 visa until 2027, so Congressional action would be needed to change it. But Trump has said gold cards won’t require Congressional approval.
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With inputs from AP_
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