The US will offer a “gold card” to wealthy foreigners that will give them the right to live and work in the US and a path to citizenship. The “gold card” will cost $5 million.
“We’re going to sell a gold card,” US President Donald Trump said. “There’s a green card. And this is a gold card. We’re going to price that card at about $5 million, and it will give you the benefits of a green card, plus it will be a path to citizenship. And wealthy people will come to our country and buy that card.”
Trump said the cards would go on sale in about two weeks, and suggested that millions of them could be sold, CNN reports.
When asked if he would consider selling the cards to Russian oligarchs, Trump said: “Yeah, maybe. I know some Russian oligarchs who are very nice people.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the card would replace the government’s EB-5 immigrant investor visa program, which allows foreign investors to invest in U.S. projects that create jobs and then apply for visas to immigrate to the U.S.
“They’re going to have to go through background checks, of course,” Lutnick said, “to make sure they’re great, world-class citizens of the world.”
Created by Congress in 1992, the EB-5 program can issue green cards to immigrants who make a minimum investment of at least $1,050,000 or $800,000 in economically distressed areas called targeted employment areas to create jobs for Americans.