WASHINGTON, DC – Former President Donald Trump announced a new immigration initiative on February 25, introducing a $5 million “Gold Card” that would offer Green Card privileges and a route to U.S. citizenship. Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump described the card as a more “sophisticated” version of the existing Green Card, designed to attract wealthy individuals, including he confirmed, Russian oligarchs. 

“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,” Trump said. “Wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card. They’ll be successful, they’ll spend a lot of money, pay a lot of taxes, and employ a lot of people. We think it’s going to be extremely successful and has never been done before.”

The announcement comes alongside plans to eliminate the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which has long offered a pathway to permanent residency for investors who meet specific job-creation and investment requirements. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed that the Trump administration intends to terminate the program, calling it “full of nonsense, make-believe, and fraud.”

“The EB-5 was a way to get a Green Card at a low price,” Lutnick said, contrasting it with the new Gold Card, which he argued would attract “very high-level people” capable of generating jobs and boosting the economy. Trump predicted that the initiative could result in the sale of “maybe a million” Gold Cards, bringing in what he called “big taxpayers and big job producers.”

The proposal echoes past controversies surrounding wealth-based immigration programs. The Independent noted that in 2017, Jared Kushner’s family faced criticism after his sister traveled to Beijing to market EB-5 Green Cards in exchange for investments in Kushner family real estate projects—an offer that a former White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush called “corruption, pure and simple.”

Trump’s plan to introduce a high-priced citizenship route comes as his administration continues to crack down on broader immigration, reinforcing a stark divide between pathways available to the wealthy versus those seeking asylum or work-based visas.

@India-West News Desk