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‘It’ll sell like crazy’: Donald Trump announces $5 million ‘gold card’ visa plan for US citizenship
Donald Trump said potential gold visa recipients will be wealthy, successful, spend heavily, pay taxes, and create jobs, believing the programme will succeed.
US President Donald Trump, during the first meeting of his second-term Cabinet on Wednesday, announced plans to introduce a “gold card” visa for $5 million, which could lead to US citizenship.
This initiative is set to replace a 35-year-old investor visa programme. Trump expressed confidence, saying, “I happen to think it’ll sell like crazy. It’s a market,” and added that the revenue generated could help pay off the country’s debt.
“If we sell a million, that’s $5 trillion,” Trump remarked, adding that there was a strong demand from the business community to participate.
“I think we will sell a lot because there’s really a thirst for it,” he said.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters that Trump’s new plan would replace the EB-5 program, which gives US visas to investors who spend around $1 million on a company that hires at least 10 people.
Lutnick said that the EB-5 program “has been around for many years for investment in projects” but had “poor oversight and execution.”
The new programme could bring a major change in US immigration policy, though similar “golden visas” are already offered in Europe and other countries, allowing people to pay for immigration status in desirable locations.
Congress, meanwhile, determines the qualifications for US citizenship, but the president stated that the “gold cards” would not require congressional approval.
Trump remarked on potential recipients of the gold visa programme that “They’ll be wealthy, successful, spend a lot of money, pay significant taxes, and employ many people. We believe it will be extremely successful.”
The US President also provided limited details on how the new programme would function, not mentioning the current EB-5 requirements for job creation.
While the number of EB-5 visas is capped, the Republican president said that the federal government could sell 10 million “gold cards” to reduce the deficit. He said it “could be great, maybe it will be fantastic.”
“It’s somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication," the president said.
With AP inputs
