Trump proposes $5 million ‘Gold Card’ that would grant US residency

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—President Trump said Tuesday that he would allow wealthy individuals to pay $5 million for a “gold card" that would grant them permanent U.S. residency, ending an existing program that offers green cards to people who invest in the country.

“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," Trump said in the Oval Office. “We think it’s going to be extremely successful." Trump said the new program, which he hopes to roll out in the coming weeks, would eventually provide a pathway for full citizenship. Companies such as Apple could pay $5 million to get approval for highly skilled workers to reside in the U.S., Trump said.

The president estimated that the U.S. could sell one million or more “gold cards." The new “gold card" system would replace the EB-5 program, which was launched in the 1990s to channel foreign investment into economically marginalized areas and create local jobs. It offers green cards to people who invest at least $900,000 or $1.8 million—depending on the area—into qualified U.S.

projects and show that they have created at least 10 jobs. Spouses of investors and their children under 21 also get green cards. The program has been plagued by cases of fraud, though it also enjoys strong bipartisan support from states, such as New York, that have benefited from the program.