Trump’s Gold Visa—What Is It?

President Donald Trump has unveiled a new immigration policy known as the “Gold Card” visa, which aims to attract wealthy foreign nationals and grant them a path to US residency and citizenship upon heavy payments. 

The program replaces the present EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which has been heavily criticized. It has been criticized for lacking foreign investment amounts, making it easy to commit fraud, and encouraging corruption.

Use the Golden Visa features:

●  The investment condition: An investment of at least $5 million is requested.

●  Residency and Citizenship: The visa would allow for permanent residency in the US, similar to a green card, with the chance of providing a        path for direct US citizenship.

●  Job Creation: There are no provisions for a mandatory number of jobs to be generated.

●  Vetting Applicants: All applicants will be put through vetting to make sure they are “good, upstanding global citizens,” according to Howard       Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce.

The gold card visa program has targets for attracting high-net-worth individuals like entrepreneurs, titans from the business world, and the wealthy. President Trump suggested that 10 million visas would be potentially sold by the system, producing good revenue for the purpose of helping to combat the national deficit.

This has triggered a heated discussion. Advocates feel that the scheme will bring a significant amount of capital into the US economy and clear the path for immigration for those who can contribute vastly and even more. Critics, however, feel that such a program can be unethical in terms of modifying citizenship and can only favor a tiny wealthy elite, consequently disrupting societal principles like equal opportunity.

According to the administration’s announcement, the Gold Card visa will be available for purchase within the next two weeks.