What is Trump’s ‘Gold Card’ for immigrants? All about the $5 million ‘pathway to US citizenship’

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a new “Gold Card” that will be sold to immigrants for $5 million. POTUS said the card, which is a premium version of a Green Card, will provide immigrants with “a pathway to citizenship.”

“We’re gonna be selling a gold card. You have a green card, this is a gold card. We’re gonna be putting a price on that card of about $5 million and that’s gonna give you green card privileges plus,” he said Tuesday in the Oval Office as he signed executive orders alongside Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

“It’s gonna be a route to citizenship. And wealthy people will 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.”

Trump announced the program would launch in two weeks, adding that he did not think his administration needed to secure approval from Congress. However, details regarding how the program would be implemented remain unclear.

Possible Replacement for EB-5 Program?

Lutnick suggested that the new ‘Gold Card’ initiative could replace the existing EB-5 program, which allows immigrant investors to obtain Green Cards by investing in US businesses. He said the funds for the ‘Gold Card” might go directly to the government.

“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,” he said. “They’ll be able to pay $5 million to the US government not to go through vetting, of course, going to make sure they are wonderful world class, global citizens.”

“They can come to America. The president can give them a green card, and they can invest in America, and we can use that money to reduce our deficit,” he added.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)