A wealthy foreigner is hoping to pay around $5 million and potentially pay the Russian oligarch, and can apply for a visa to live in the United States courtesy of what is being charged as a “Trump Gold Card.”
Donald Trump announced a new visa program from his oval office on Tuesday night, saying it could start in about two weeks.
“It will be a route to citizenship, and the wealthy people will come to our country by purchasing this card. They will become wealthy, they will succeed, they will spend a lot of money and pay a lot of taxes,” he said.
The president was asked by a reporter whether the Russian oligarchs are eligible to apply. “Yeah, probably,” he replied. “I know of Russian oligarchs who are very nice people.”
The proposed Gold Card is one of the most expensive visa programs in the world. This replaces the current EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program. This allows individuals to live in the United States seeking at least $1 million or $800,000 investments in the country’s distressed areas.
Sign up for This week at Trumpland
A deep dive into the policies, controversy and eccentricity surrounding the Trump administration
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising, and content funded by external parties. For more information, please refer to our Privacy Policy. We use Google Recaptcha to protect our website and the application of Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
After the newsletter promotion
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said all applicants will be thoroughly examined to ensure that they are “a wonderful, world-class world citizen.”
Despite the $5 million ask price, the new visa sales scheme could be popular among the global superrich. One possible obstacle is the unusual tax system in the United States, which allows American citizens to answer US taxes on income they earn anywhere in the world.
The new Trump Gold Card is created when the president is dedicated much of his time to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. It also gives a twist to America’s traditional reputation as a shelter for hardworking poor “wants to breathe.”
As Jason Selwig of the political cartoon pointed out, the gold card offers a rewrite of the words engraved on the Statue of Liberty.