NEW YORK — President Donald Trump is planning a “gold card” visa with a potential pathway to U.S. citizenship for $5 million.
The program would replace an existing program that offers U.S. visas to investors who spend about $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people. And it echoes similar “golden visa ” programs in countries such as Canada, New Zealand, Malta and others that have allowed participants to pay a fee or make an investment in order to secure a pathway to residency in desirable places.
“Golden visa” programs all have different frameworks and paths to permanent residency and have had mixed results in spurring investment in a country’s economy.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said Trump’s gold card would replace an existing program in two weeks, so details about who would qualify and what the application process would look like should be available before then. For now, all Trump has said is they will cost $5 million.
Of recipients, he said, “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, and we think it’s going to be extremely successful.”
He added that companies, not just individuals, “ will be able to buy gold cards. ”
Congress created a program called EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program in 1990 to create jobs and encourage foreign investment. Under that program, investors who spent about $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people can qualify for a visa and a pathway to permanent residency.
About 8,000 people obtained investor visas in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2022, according to the Homeland Security Department’s most recent Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.
Henley & Partners, which advises both governments and people on residence or citizenship by investment programs, says more than 100 countries around the world offer or have offered “golden visas” to wealthy individuals and investors. That list includes the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Canada and Italy, although some countries have tightened their restrictions or ended programs.
Under different programs in different countries, requirements include buying a house, making a financial investment or creating a certain number of jobs.
Basil Mohr-Elzeki, managing partner Henley & Partners North America, said the programs often help countries meet investment goals. But they don’t always last.
Spain’s government scrapped its program to allow people from outside the European Union to obtain residency permits if they invested more than half a million euros ($520,000) in real estate. The program was criticized for causing soaring housing prices. The U.K. ended its program in 2022 over security concerns.
Mohr-Elzeki of Henley & Partners said despite the high price tag, there may be an appetite for the program, but it remains to be seen what the parameters are.
“We don’t have that much information aside from the investment threshold and the intention,” he said. But generally these kind of programs can help countries meet investment goals, depending on the goal, he said.
“We do think that there will be significant demand in this program,” he said. “We are just waiting on on the details of what frameworks that they’re going to be outlining.”
The key to whether it will be a success or not will less likely be the $5 million investment threshold and more to do with the process.
“Typically speaking, the lower the residency requirements, the more popular the program as those wealthy individuals globally, they like options,” he said. “So they may be investing in the United States, but they may invest elsewhere as well — to have access to live in the States, access to live in Europe, access to live in the UAE. So all of these come into play. ”
If the new program replaces the existing EB-5 program in two weeks, there are questions over what will happen to people in the existing program. Typically those people get grandfathered in to the new program but there’s a possibility they might not be, said Mohr-Elzeki.
In 2022, Congress extended the EB-5 program until 2027, so Congressional action would be needed to change it. But Trump has said gold cards won’t require Congressional approval.