A website is live for President Donald Trump’s “gold card,” which could offer the ultra-wealthy a fast lane to U.S. legal residence and citizenship.
The president has put a $5 million price tag on the opportunity. Otherwise, details remain scant.
The Trump administration says its gold card would replace the existing EB-5 visa program, which offers green cards to foreigners who can prove they’ve made big investments in U.S. businesses that helped create jobs.
“The gold card doesn’t seem to have an investment component. It’s just about paying money to the U.S. government,” said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute.
It’s not clear President Trump has the legal authority to create a new visa category without Congress getting involved — or whether there’s even much demand, Gelatt said.
“Because you have to be really extraordinarily wealthy for this to be attractive,” said Stan Veuger, senior fellow with the American Enterprise Institute.
Most people with $5 million to throw around are doing pretty well in their own countries, he added.
“If you wanted to hit $10 billion in revenue a year, which is less than 1% of our budget deficit, you’d need 2,000 buyers per year,” Veuger said.
And at the price point Trump is floating, he doesn’t expect that many takers for the gold card.