Trump offers 'Gold Cards' for rich migrants, $5 million pathway to US citizenship
PTC News Desk: US President Donald Trump has introduced a new immigration initiative for the rich migrants with its Gold Card which will allow wealthy foreign investors to purchase direct pathway to US citizenship for USD 5 million. The US President said that the proposal is being pitched as advance version of Green Card.
"We are going to be selling a gold card...We are going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million," Trump said.
"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.
According to the Trump administration, the objective of this initiative is to seek influential individuals to the country while generating revenue for the government.
The Gold Card would also replace the existing EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program which allows
enables foreign investors to obtain Green Cards if they agree to invest a minimum of USD 800,000 in projects located in Targeted Employment Areas (TEAs) while also making sure to create at least 10 US jobs. So far Donald Trump has criticised the EB-5 system, calling it outdated and ineffective.
"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," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.
- With inputs from agencies
