• US President Donald Trump announced a visa program granting residency and citizenship to foreign investors paying USD 5 million.
• The new “gold card” visa will replace the EB-5 program, offering green card privileges and a direct citizenship pathway.
• Golden visas attract investment worldwide; the US shift may fund government deficits instead of private job creation.

Gold Card Visa

What is the deal? US President Donald Trump said that he is starting a visa program for foreign investors. The premise is to offer residency and a route to citizenship to investors who pay USD 5 million.

What’s new? Reuters report that Trump told reporters that this will replace the EB-5 immigrant visa program which allows foreign investors of large sums of money that create or preserve U.S. jobs to become permanent residents. This program grants “green cards” while the new program would be “gold cards.” 

The “gold card” would give green card privileges and also be a route to American citizenship for wealthy individuals.

This comes as part of Trump’s previous statements to keep pathways for legal immigration to the US. It is important to note however, that this comes amidst what he described as the largest deportation of undocumented immigrants. 

Golden Visas

So what is a golden visa? It’s an opportunity to seek legal residency in another country for a certain amount of money. This is not a new concept, many countries rely on it to generate foreign currency and attract foreign investment.

Often, the buyer does not need to reside in the country which makes the visa a useful option for those who want to travel somewhere frequently with no intention of moving.

It is often referred to as an “investment residency” which allows individuals to obtain temporary or permanent residency in a specific country enabling them to live and work there. 

Golden visa programs are gaining popularity because states view them as a beneficial way to raise funds and encourage foreign investment. Its popularity rose in Europe during the continent’s debt crisis in which several countries such as Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Hungary started selling residency in an effort to address budget deficits.

This is also prevalent in the Middle East, for instance, in the UAE has long had a golden visa for investors and more recently it released a golden visa for creators.  

Why is the US’s decision significant? This is replacing the country’s EB-5 program which has been in place since the 1990s. The program goal was to stimulate the US economy and generate jobs through capital investment by foreign investors.

However this time around, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that the gold card funds  might be paid directly to the government to reduce the deficit.