{"id":53143,"date":"2025-02-26T12:27:49","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T12:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/green-card-for-the-rich-trump-proposes-5m-gold-card-for-u-s-citizenship\/"},"modified":"2025-02-26T11:56:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T11:56:20","slug":"green-card-for-the-rich-trump-proposes-5m-gold-card-for-u-s-citizenship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/green-card-for-the-rich-trump-proposes-5m-gold-card-for-u-s-citizenship\/","title":{"rendered":"Green card for the rich? Trump proposes $5M \u2018gold card\u2019 for U.S. citizenship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be selling a gold card,\u201d Trump said from the Oval Office. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a green card. This is a gold card. We\u2019re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million, and that\u2019s going to give you green card privileges, plus it\u2019s going to be a route to citizenship. And wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump indicated that details about the scheme would be revealed in two weeks, with expectations that it could attract a large number of buyers.<\/p>\n

When asked whether Russian oligarchs would be eligible to purchase the gold card, Trump responded: \u201cYeah, possibly. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, appearing alongside Trump, confirmed that the new initiative would replace the EB-5 program, which currently grants green cards to foreign investors who invest in U.S. businesses that generate jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll have to go through vetting, of course,\u201d Lutnick said, \u201cto make sure they\u2019re wonderful world-class global citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EB-5 program, established by Congress in 1990, allows immigrants to obtain green cards by investing at least $1,050,000, or $800,000 in economically distressed areas, to stimulate job creation, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).<\/p>\n

Trump and his family\u2019s businesses have previously benefited from the EB-5 program to fund major property developments. However, the program has faced bipartisan scrutiny, with lawmakers criticizing it as being misused and in need of reform.<\/p>\n

During his first term, the Trump administration attempted to increase the minimum investment threshold to $900,000 in targeted areas and $1.8 million in other locations, but a federal judge later overturned the change in 2021 due to procedural issues in its approval.<\/p>\n

The EB-5 program was last renewed under President Joe Biden\u2019s administration in 2022, with the investment thresholds adjusted to their current levels.<\/p>\n

The proposed gold card program would mark a significant departure from the EB-5 framework by offering direct residency and a path to citizenship at a set price, a move likely to reignite debate over the role of wealth in U.S. immigration policy.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump has proposed replacing the existing EB-5 immigrant investor visa program with a new “gold card,” which would allow wealthy foreigners to live and work in the U.S. and provide a pathway to citizenship for a $5 million fee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000082458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-53143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000082458,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/trump_new.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/trump_new.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/trump_new.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/trump_new.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/trump_new.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/trump_new.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000082458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53143"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=53143"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=53143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}