US President Donald Trump wants to offer wealthy immigrants “gold cards,” offering to sell them the possibility of citizenship for $5 million.
“We’re going to be selling a gold card,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “You have a green card. This is a gold card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million, and that’s going to give you green card privileges, plus it’s going to be a route to citizenship.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested the program would begin in two weeks and replace the existing EB-5 immigrant investor program. He said the immigrants would be vetted and help to reduce the budget deficit.
Trump said he expects companies will pay to get educated workers into the U.S. with gold cards and that the country could sell one million cards. The president said the card would be a path to citizenship, but people would not be buying access to citizenship.