Gold Card: President Trump Offers to Give US Citizenship with a Price, Mentions the Amount
- U.S. President Donald Trump proposed replacing the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program with a $5 million "gold card" that offers a route to American citizenship
- The new scheme aims to attract wealthy investors and replace the criticised EB-5 program, which Trump described as "full of nonsense, make-believe and fraud"
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick supported the change, emphasising the need for a more credible and valuable visa program
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Washington, D.C., USA – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, February 25, 2025, floated the idea of replacing the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program with a so-called "gold card" that could be bought for $5 million as a route to American citizenship.
Trump announced that the new scheme would replace the existing EB-5 program, which allows foreign investors to become permanent residents by investing large sums of money that create or preserve U.S. jobs.
Source: Getty Images
Details of Trump's gold card proposal
According to Reuters, the EB-5 program grants "green cards" to foreigners promising to invest in U.S. businesses.
"We are going to be selling a gold card," Trump declared.
"We are going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million. It's going to give you green card privileges plus it's going to be a route to American citizenship, and wealthy people would be coming into our country by buying this card," he added.
Trump mentioned that details about the scheme would be released in two weeks.
When asked by a journalist if Russian oligarchs could qualify for the gold cards, Trump responded, "Yeah, possibly. Hey. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people."
Criticism of US EB-5 program
The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, administered by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, was created by Congress in 1990 to "stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors," according to the USCIS website.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick criticised the EB-5 program, stating,
"The EB-5 program ... it was full of nonsense, make believe and fraud, and it was a way to get a green card that was low price. So the president said, rather than having this sort of ridiculous EB-5 program, we're going to end the EB-5 program. We're going to replace it with the Trump gold card."
US deports 135 migrants
Legit.ng earlier reported that the Donald Trump-led United States (US) government deported 135 migrants of various nationalities.
It came amid an ongoing move by Trump to overhaul parts of the US immigration system since returning to office and promised "mass deportations" and arrests. The Associated Press cited the Costa Rican government as saying the migrants were deported to the South American nation on Thursday, February 20.
Their flight departed from San Diego, California, and arrived at a base next to Juan Santamaria International Airport. The deportees, who will be repatriated to their countries of origin from Costa Rica, were taken by bus from the capital San Jose to a migrant facility about 360 kilometres away, near the border with Panama.
Proofreading by James, Ojo Adakole, journalist and copy editor at Legit.ng.
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Source: Legit.ng
