'Gold Cards' Are Available Now, Trump Announces

President Trump announced Wednesday that his long-promised "gold card" was officially going on sale, offering legal status and an eventual pathway to US citizenship for individuals paying $1 million and corporations ponying up twice that per foreign-born employee. A website accepting applications went live as Trump revealed the start of the program while surrounded by business leaders in the White House's Roosevelt Room, the AP reports. The plan is to replace EB-5 visas, which Congress created in 1990 to generate foreign investment and had been available to people who spend about $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people.

Trump touts the new version as a way for the US to attract and retain top talent, all while generating revenue for federal coffers. He's been promoting the gold card program for months, once suggesting that each card would cost $5 million, though he more recently revised that to the $1 million and $2 million pricing scheme. The president said all money taken in as part of the program will "go to the US government" and predicted that billions would flow into an account run by the Treasury Department "where we can do things positive for the country." The new program is actually a green card, effectively offering permanent legal residency with the chance for citizenship. "Basically, it's a green card but much better," Trump said. "Much more powerful, a much stronger path."

The president made no mention of requirements for job creation for applying corporations or on overall caps on the program, which exist under the current EB-5 program. Instead, he said he'd heard complaints from business leaders who had been unable to recruit outstanding graduates from US universities because they were from other countries and lacked permission to stay. "You can't hire people from the best colleges because you don't know whether or not you can keep the person," Trump said. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the process used to scrutinize backgrounds would "make sure these people absolutely qualify to be in America." Companies will be able to receive multiple cards but will be limited to one individual per card, he said. Dozens of countries offer versions of "golden visas" to wealthy individuals, including the UK, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Canada, and Italy.