The much-hyped “Trump Card” is now officially open for registration, offering wealthy foreigners a chance to join a waiting list. US President Donald Trump describes it as a premium route toward US citizenship, for a hefty $5 million price tag.The official website, TrumpCard.gov, features an image of the shiny gold-coloured card, complete with Trump’s photo, signature and name. The form asks for basic details like name, email, region of origin, and whether the applicant is applying as an individual or a business.
The Trump Card is coming! Trump announced the launch on his social media platform Truth Social, “For five million $DOLLARS, The Trump Card is coming! Thousands have been calling and asking how they can sign up to ride a beautiful road in gaining access to the greatest country and market anywhere in the world.”“The waiting list is now open,” he added.The website lists eight regions for applicants to choose from: Europe, Asia (including the Middle East), North America, Oceania, Central America, South America, the Caribbean and Africa.Above the details, the site ensures that applicants will be notified when access opens: ‘Enter your information below to be notified the moment access opens.’What the card promises — and what it doesn’tTrump claims the card offers a “path to citizenship,” but he has clarified that it does not guarantee immediate entry or naturalisation. “It’s somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication,” the POTUS has claimed.The Trump administration insists the new card does not require approval from Congress, as it doesn’t provide citizenship outright. White House officials have said more information will be released soon, reports USA Today.Under the existing US naturalisation system, immigrants must typically be lawful permanent residents for at least five years, meet age and language criteria, and have a clean record.A replacement for EB-5?Trump first proposed the Trump Card earlier this year as a replacement for the EB-5 investor visa programme, which grants green cards to foreigners who invest between $800,000 and $1.05 million into US job-creating projects. The EB-5 programme has long suffered from backlogs and accusations of fraud.“Wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card,” Trump said in February. “They’ll be wealthy, and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money, and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people.”He added, “It’s a road to citizenship for people and essentially people of wealth or people of great talent where people of wealth pay for those people of talent to get in.”Major tax advantage for card holdersOne of the key selling points of the Trump Card appears to be its potential tax benefits. Trump has suggested that gold card buyers would only be taxed on their US earnings, unlike green card holders, who are taxed on worldwide income. This is likely to appeal to many high-net-worth individuals who have avoided relocating to the US due to its global tax obligations.Trump Card does not seem to require applicants to create US-based jobs or launch businesses, unlike the EB-5 visa programme. US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick has claimed that 1,000 cards were sold in a single day, even though the programme has yet to officially launch. According to Lutnick, some 37 million people worldwide could afford the Trump Card.Trump has claimed he was the first to purchase the Trump Card himself. “I had no idea who would be the second,” he said. However, the programme is not designed for American citizens.