U.S. President Donald Trump has unveiled the official launch of his long-awaited “gold card,” a new initiative offering legal residency and a future path to American citizenship. Individuals can obtain this status for $1 million, while corporations must pay double that amount for each foreign-born employee they wish to sponsor.
A newly launched website is now accepting applications, as Trump made the announcement surrounded by business executives in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.
This new program is designed to replace the EB-5 visa system, which was established by Congress in 1990. The EB-5 allowed individuals to gain residency by investing approximately $1 million in a business that employs a minimum of 10 people.
During the announcement, the president did not discuss whether there would be job creation requirements for participating corporations or if there would be any limits on the number of gold cards issued, unlike the existing EB-5 program.
Trump emphasized that he has received feedback from business leaders who have struggled to hire exceptional graduates from American universities due to these individuals being international students without the proper authorization to remain in the U.S.
“You can’t hire people from the best colleges because you don’t know whether or not you can keep the person,” Trump noted.
Investors’ visas are common around the world, with dozens of countries offering versions of “golden visas” to wealthy individuals, including the UK, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Canada and Italy.
