Plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday are accusing the Trump administration of unlawfully favoring wealth over talent with the introduction of the “Gold Card” visa program.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), along with several other federal agencies, rolled out President Donald Trump’s expedited visa scheme, which allows individuals to pay $1 million for priority immigration processing, in late 2025.

Applications for this controversial program began in December 2025, following a September executive order titled “The Gold Card.” The DHS started accepting applications while the Commerce Department handled payments.

Now, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), along with several global academics, has filed a 36-page lawsuit in Washington, D.C., arguing that the program is “unlawful for several independent reasons.”

The lawsuit states, “This new pay-to-play program displaces the current employment-based visa system, prioritizing wealth over intellect or ability. This shift has tangible consequences.”

Under existing laws, there are approximately 80,000 visas available annually for individuals with “extraordinary ability” (EB-1A) and “exceptional ability” (EB-2). Traditionally, these visas are distributed based on the order in which applications are received.

But, no more; the Gold Card program offers what the plaintiffs term “a paid fast lane” and cuts directly into the available number of such visas that can be granted each year.

“As a result, apart from the Gold Card program, applicants proceed through an orderly queue to be considered for a limited annual allotment—often with multiyear waits when applications outnumber available visas,” the lawsuit explains. “The Gold Card program will increase those waits and result in qualified, merits-based applicants not being awarded visas.”

This new system contradicts the law actually passed by Congress, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the lawsuit alleges.

“By conditioning access on payment, the Gold Card program allows visas to be bought, and thereby takes visas away from the people to whom federal statute specifies they should be awarded—scientists and engineers, physicians, researchers, and other accomplished individuals whose admission would substantially benefit the United States,” the complaint goes on. “Rather than reserving those visas for the world’s best and brightest, the Gold Card program converts the visas into revenue-generating commodities sold to those who can pay $1 million or more.”

The plaintiffs go on to say the Gold Card program “places a premium on wealth over the statutory eligibility criteria.”

The Trump administration, for its part, has been clear that the point of the Gold Card program is to generate revenue.

During an interview, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he had already sold 1,000 of the new visas. During a speech discussing an earlier iteration of the visa — for which the price tag was $5 million — Trump mentioned the possibility of using the proceeds to pay down the U.S. national debt.

The lawsuit says this aspect of the program is a problem.

“At bottom, the Gold Card program overrides Congress’s choices—both as to who qualifies for employment-based immigration and how and under what conditions agencies may collect revenue,” the complaint continues. “No statute, moreover, authorizes the President or Defendants to raise revenue by offering advantages to applicants for EB-1A or EB-2 visas.”

The seven-count lawsuit is almost entirely premised on alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the law governing agency actions. The lawsuit also alleges the defendants “lack statutory and constitutional authority to create and implement the Gold Card program.”

At heart, the litigation stakes out an argument that the new program is a threat to “qualified applicants” and “highly skilled individuals” who are “poised and ready to contribute to the United States in the sciences and arts, education, business, and even athletics” but are being “displaced” by those who can afford to skip the line entirely.

“The Gold Card, which privileges wealthy immigrants over others, is part of a larger attack on immigrants, research, and higher education,” AAUP President Todd Wolfson said in a press release announcing the litigation. “This unlawful program directly harms our members and the public. We stand firmly against it.”

The lawsuit asks a federal court to “hold unlawful and set aside” the Gold Card program and its associated directives and forms — as well as the nonrefundable $15,000 processing fee attached to the program — and enjoin the government from further using any aspects to adjudicate visa requests.