US President Donald Trump announced plans to offer a ‘gold card’ visa with a path to citizenship for $5 million.The new system would replace the existing EB-5 program – a system launched in 1990 that offers green cards to individuals who invested in the United State – and serve as a route to citizenship, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.’We're going to be selling a gold card,’ Trump said, adding that he believes it will bolster the economy.’Wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card, they'll be wealthy and they'll be successful, and they'll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people,’ he added.Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the ‘Trump Gold Card’ would replace EB-5 visas in two weeks. EB-5s were created by Congress in 1990 to generate foreign investment and are available to people who spend about $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people.Lutnick said the gold card – actually a green card, or permanent legal residency – would raise the price of admission for investors and do away with fraud and ‘nonsense’ that he said characterize the EB-5 program. Like other green cards, it would include a path to citizenship.About 8,000 people obtained investor visas in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2022, according to the Homeland Security Departments most recent Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. The Congressional Research Service reported in 2021 that EB-5 visas pose risks of fraud, including verification that funds were obtained legally.
