Trump teases "Gold card" for US residency again as skepticism mounts

TOI correspondent from Washington: MAGA supremo Donald Trump once again teased the imminent arrival of "Trump GoldCard," with his minions claiming millions of foreigners are waiting to fork out $5 million each to buy American residency and a path to citizenship.

Almost 15 weeks after he announced the new visa program would be rolled out in two weeks, Trump unveiled a sketchy website trumpcard.gov that merely said that "The Trump Card is Coming" and asked those interested to "Enter your information below to be notified the moment access opens." There was no date and no details of the program. Patchy details previously announced by the administration said the program, intended to replace the existing EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, is aimed at granting permanent US residency and a "potential path" to citizenship for wealthy foreigners with a "gold car" on payment of $5 million. Unlike the EB-5 program, which requires investments in job-creating businesses, the Gold Card, now dubbed "Trump Card" appears to involve a straightforward $5 million payment without specific job creation requirementsTrump and his lackeys have thrown out fantastic numbers, talking up the prospect of attracting more than 1 million foreigners paying $5 million each to generate $5 trillion, a sum that could pay down the country's mounting debt that now stands at $36 trillion.

While MAGA diehards seem resentful of US citizenship sold in such a crass manner to foreigners, others are fantasizing about millions of foreigners paying off the US debt and creating a surplus.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed in March that he had "sold" 1,000 cards (in the yet to be rolled out program), generating $5 billion, and that Elon Musk "is building the software right now" for the application process.

But there is widespread skepticism, about both the legitimacy of the programs and the tall numbers, with some experts estimating that only 20,000–30,000 non-American centimillionaires (with a net worth of $100 million and above) globally could afford the $5 million fee, far below the 1 million targeted by Trump.

There is a ceiling of 10,000 visas annually for the existing EB-5 program and even that, requiring an investment of only around 1 million, is not filled in some years.

Trump has announced that there will be no ceiling on the so-called Gold Card. In further sweeteners to “wealthy and successful” individuals Trump hopes to attract to the US from across the world, he has said they would not be required to pay taxes on their global income.

US lawmakers, including some Republicans, are also in a wait and watch, arguing that creating a new visa category requires congressional legislation, a power reserved for Congress under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The executive branch, they maintain, cannot unilaterally grant permanent residency or alter tax laws for foreigners. MAGA diehards have more fundamental concerns -- about a US overrun by wealthy foreigners replacing poor immigrants.