Former President Donald Trump announced a new initiative Tuesday to sell $5 million “gold cards” to wealthy foreigners, granting them US residency and a pathway to citizenship. He predicted that the program could generate trillions of dollars and help reduce the national debt.
“It’s somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “It’s a road to citizenship for people, and essentially people of wealth or people of great talent.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who joined Trump for the announcement, said the initiative would replace the existing EB-5 visa program, which offers green cards to investors who meet specific criteria.
“Rather than having this sort of ridiculous EB-5 program, we’re going to end the EB-5 program. We’re going to replace it with the Trump Gold Card, which is really a green card,” Lutnick said. “They’ll be able to pay $5 million to the US government. They’ll have to go through vetting, of course, to make sure they’re wonderful world-class global citizens.”
Trump asserted that a broad range of wealthy individuals, from Russian oligarchs to Indian tech entrepreneurs, could be among the buyers. “Apple and all these companies that want to get people to be working for them will be able to buy a card,” he said, adding that top graduates from elite universities could also benefit.
The former president estimated that selling one million cards could generate $5 trillion, with even higher figures possible if demand exceeded expectations. “And if you sell 10 million of the cards, that’s a total of $50 trillion,” he said. “We have $35 trillion in debt. That’d be nice, so we’ll see.”
Trump maintained that the plan had been legally vetted and was ready to launch within weeks. However, he acknowledged that full citizenship for gold card holders would require congressional approval.
When asked whether Russian oligarchs, many of whom acquired wealth through corruption, would be eligible, Trump responded: “Yeah, possibly. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people. It’s possible. They’re not as wealthy as they used to be. I think they can afford $5 million.”
The proposal is expected to spark debate over immigration policy, economic priorities, and ethical concerns surrounding the sale of residency and citizenship privileges.
