Can US Gold Card Attract Investors?

At a time when the Trump administration is determined to deport people illegally residing in the US, President Donald Trump has announced the issuance of the Gold Card. The Gold Card is similar to the existing Green Card but with a heavy price tag. The Gold Card will be offered to wealthy foreigners from around the world who can afford to pay as much as USD 5 million. After the implementation of the Gold Card programme, the current EB-5 investor visa programme will be scrapped. According to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the EB-5 programme is fraught with nonsense, make-believe and fraud and it is easy to get the Green Card at a lower price. Further, the EB-5 programme is poorly administered and executed. That is why the EB-5 programme needs to be supplanted by the Gold Card. This will bring about an improvement.  

The EB-5 programme allows foreign people to put money into US projects that create jobs for the Americans. After that, they are allowed to apply for visas to migrate to the US. The projects should, however, create at least 10 full-time jobs. The EB-5 programme was created by Congress in the early 1990s. The programme grants the Green Card to foreign people who invest USD 1.05 million, or USD 0.8 million in economically vulnerable areas. The programme is aimed at creating jobs to stimulate the economy. Companies connected to Trump and his family also invest in projects aimed at giving a shot-in-the-arm to property development.  

 Investment 

However, during Trump’s firs term, the programme was under fire from lawmakers in Congress. Many warned that the programme had deviated from its stated goals. The Trump administration tried in 2019 to raise the minimum investment criterion for economically deprived areas to USD 0.9 million and USD 1.8 million in other areas. But the move was revoked by a federal judge in 2021. The programme was last reviewed by the Biden administration with the minimum requirements raised to the current levels. The Green Card is being handled by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIC). It has not been revealed which agency will handle the Gold Card but it is most likely that the USCIC will regulate and supervise the issuance of the Gold Card in close collaboration with the State Department of Commerce to administer the investment part of the programme. 

Typically, holders of the Green Card can apply for citizenship after five years. However, under the Gold Card programme, the processing time for applying for citizenship is expected to be much shorter. This is aimed at encouraging foreign wealthy people to invest in the US and become US citizens. Trump has announced that millions of Gold Cards will be up for grabs. It seems unlike under the EB-5 programme, there will be no requirements for investing in projects that will create jobs and stimulate the economy. The US has the largest external debt in the world. The US had an external debt of USD 36 trillion in November 2024.

The details of the Gold Card programme have not been made public yet. How the US government will select recipients, if there are exclusions or if there is any cap on the issuance of the Gold Card is still unknown. It may be noted that dozens of countries around the world offer citizenship through investment programmes. According to Henle and Partners, a British investment migration consultancy, there are over one hundred countries that issue golden visas to wealthy foreigners. They include, among others, the UK, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Canada, Italy, Nauru, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda.

The positive side of the Gold Card programme will be wealthy foreigners can be brought into the US. Such people will invest mostly in real estate, luxurious markets and other businesses. Investments in job-creating projects will boost the economy, contributing to Trump’s campaign of MAGA (Make American Great Again). The introduction of the Gold Card programme is also expected to reduce risks associated with the EB-5 programme. 

However, there will be some downsides that need to be tackled. Granting US citizenship to wealthy foreigners may induce foreign influence in the US economy. This will put ingenious professionals on the back foot. If the programme is not properly regulated and monitored, it may encourage money laundering. If the projects open to foreigners for investment are not required to produce jobs, wealthy foreigners may come to the US to become citizens of the world’s largest economy. Now, the question arises whether to distribute US citizenship among wealthy foreigners or prioritise skilled manpower that can contribute to stimulating the economy. 

Significant Change 

It may be of relevance to note that any significant change to immigration policy requires approval from Congress. The Republicans have a majority in both Houses but not all the Republicans are in favour of endorsing the Gold Card programme. And the Democrats will almost certainly oppose the programme. There is also a moot question: Will wealthy foreigners invest such a whopping amount in the US? In the fiscal year 2024, the State Department issued 12,000 EB-5 visas. In the fiscal year 2023, only 631 Indian citizens obtained the Green Card under the EB-5 programme. When the charge is increased to USD five million, likely that most Indians will not be interested in receiving the Gold Card. 

When millions of dollars are invested in US projects designed to create more and more jobs, the economy will certainly benefit. But whether wealthy foreigners will be interested in the programme is up in the air. However, the Trump administration must have floated the Gold Card programme in view of its rising external debt. From the profits generated by the projects invested in by wealthy foreigners, the debt can be reduced. 

(Maharjan has been regularly writing on contemporary issues for this daily since 2000.)