Trump launches gold card program for expedited visas with a price tag of $1 million

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration officially launched the “Trump Gold Card” visa program on Wednesday to offer a path, at a steep price, for non-US citizens to get fast-track permission to live in the United States.

The Trumpcard.gov website, with its “Apply Now” button, allows interested applicants to pay a $15,000 fee to the Department of Homeland Security for expedited processing.

After passing a background check or vetting process, applicants must then make a “contribution” — the site also calls it a “gift” — of $1 million to receive the visa, similar to a “Green Card,” which allows them to live and work in the United States.

“It’s basically a Green Card, but much better. Much stronger, a much stronger course,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “A path is a big deal. We must be great people.”

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said about 10,000 people have already signed up for the gold card during a pre-registration period and he expected many more to do so. “I would expect over time that we would sell, you know, thousands of these cards and raise, you know, billions, billions of dollars,” Lutnick told Reuters in a brief interview.

Lutnick said the gold card program will bring people to the United States who will benefit the economy. He compared that to “average” Green Card holders, who he said made less money than average Americans and were more likely to be or have family members on public assistance. He provided no evidence for this claim.

The Trump administration has continued a broad crackdown on immigration, deporting hundreds of thousands of people who were in the country illegally and also taking steps to discourage legal immigration.

The gold card program is Trump’s version of a hedge against that, designed to make money for the U.S. Treasury in the same way the president, a former New York businessman and reality TV host, said his tariff program has succeeded.

Lutnick noted that there was also a corporate version of the gold card that allowed companies to obtain visas for employees who wanted to work in the United States, with a contribution of $2 million per employee.