Trump Proposes $5 million ‘Gold Cards’ For Wealthy Immigrants To Fast-Track U.S Citizenship

United States President Donald Trump has introduced a plan to replace the existing EB-5 investor visa with a new “gold card” program.

This initiative would allow wealthy individuals to fast-track their path to U.S. citizenship by investing $5 million.

Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump explained that the gold card would grant green card privileges while serving as a direct route to citizenship.

He emphasized that the program would attract successful, high-net-worth people who would contribute significantly to the U.S. economy by creating jobs and paying taxes.

“It’s going to give you green card privileges plus it’s going to be a route to citizenship, and wealthy people would be coming into our country by buying this card.

“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, hinting that more details would be released in two weeks.

Unlike the EB-5 visa, which has a set limit, Trump suggested that the government could sell up to 10 million gold cards to help reduce the national deficit.

He described the program as “a more sophisticated version of the green card,” designed to attract both wealthy investors and highly skilled individuals.

“It’s somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication, 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,” he said.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed that the new initiative would officially replace the EB-5 visa in two weeks.

The EB-5 program, which has been in place since 1990, allows foreign investors to gain permanent residency by investing at least $1 million in a business that creates jobs.

Lutnick stated that the gold card would raise the financial threshold while eliminating fraud and inefficiencies associated with the EB-5 system.

According to Homeland Security’s latest immigration data, approximately 8,000 people received investor visas in the 12-month period ending September 30, 2022.

If implemented, the gold card program could significantly alter the way wealthy immigrants gain U.S. residency.

KanyiDaily recalls that United States recently unveiled its updated list of countries eligible for the 2025 Visa Waiver Program (VWP), allowing travelers to visit the U.S. without a visa for up to 90 days.