Trump says he will offer “gold” with $5 million citizenship to replace investor visa
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he plans to offer a “gold card” visa for $5 million and citizenship for $5 million, replacing the 35-year-old investor visa.
“They will be rich, they will succeed, they will spend a lot of money, pay a lot of taxes and hire a lot of people, and we think it will be very successful,” Trump said.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the “Trump Gold Medal” will replace the EB-5 visa within two weeks. The EB-5 was created by Congress in 1990 to generate foreign investment and use it for people who spend about $1 million for a company that employs at least 10 employees.
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Lutnick said the gold medal (actually a green card or permanent legal residency) would raise the admission price for investors and cancel the fraud and “nonsense” of the EB-5 program he said. Like other green cards, it will include a pathway to citizenship.
According to the Department of Homeland Security’s recent yearbook for immigration statistics, about 8,000 people received investor visas in the 12 months ended September 30, 2022. The Congressional Research Bureau reported in 2021 that the EB-5 visa poses a risk of fraud, including verification of proven legal access to funds.
Investor visas are common all over the world. Consulting firm Henley & Partners said that over 100 countries around the world offer “golden visas” to wealthy people including the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Australia, Canada and Italy.
Trump did not mention the demand for job creation. And, despite the cap on the number of EB-5 visas, Trump is addicted to the federal government being able to sell 10 million “gold cards” to reduce the deficit. He said, “Maybe it’s great, maybe it’s great.”
“It’s kind of like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication it’s the citizenship of people, essentially people with wealth or talented people, people with wealth pay for those with talent, meaning It is the company that will pay for people and have a long-term status in the country,” he said.
Congress has established citizenship qualifications, but Trump said the “gold medal” does not require Congressional approval.
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