U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced plans to replace the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program with a new “gold card” that would provide a direct path to American citizenship for foreign investors willing to pay $5 million.
“We are going to be selling a gold card,” Trump told reporters, describing it as a way to attract wealthy individuals to the U.S. “It’s going to give you green card privileges plus a route to citizenship.”
The EB-5 program, created in 1990, grants green cards to foreign investors who contribute significant funds to U.S. businesses and create jobs. Trump criticized the program as being “full of nonsense, make-believe, and fraud” and vowed to replace it with what he called the “Trump gold card.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick echoed Trump’s sentiments, saying the current visa program was a “low-price” path to residency. The administration plans to release further details about the proposal in two weeks.
When asked whether Russian oligarchs could qualify for the gold card, Trump responded, “Yeah, possibly. Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”
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