U.S. President Donald Trump displays a signed executive order on gold card visa in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., in September 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday (December 10, 2025) that his long-promised “gold card” was officially going on sale, offering legal status and an eventual pathway to U.S. citizenship for individuals paying $1 million and corporations ponying up twice that per foreign-born employee.
A website accepting applications went live as Mr. Trump revealed the start of the programme while surrounded by business leaders in the White House’s Roosevelt Room. It is meant 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.
Mr. Trump sees the new version as a way for the U.S. to attract and retain top talent, all while generating revenue for federal coffers. He has been promoting the gold card programme for months, and once suggested 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 funds taken in as part of the programme will “go to the U.S. 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 programme is actually a green card, effectively offering permanent legal residency with the chance for citizenship.
“Basically, it’s a green card but much better,” Mr. Trump said. “Much more powerful, a much stronger path.”
Also read: Here’s everything you need to know about ‘gold card’ visa programme
The President made no mention of requirements for job creation for applying corporations or on overall caps on the programme, which exist under the current EB-5 programme. Instead, he said he had heard complaints from business leaders who had been unable to recruit outstanding graduates from U.S. 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,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump has built his political career around clamping down on the U.S.-Mexico border and championing hard-line immigration policies. His second administration spent its first 10-plus months launching mass deportation pushes and sweeping immigration crackdowns that have targeted cities including Los Angeles and Charlotte.
But he has also drawn criticism from leading voices of his “Make America Great Again” movement for repeatedly suggesting that skilled immigrants should be allowed into the U.S. — something the gold card programme could facilitate.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the programme will include $15,000 for applicant vetting and that the thorough process used to scrutinise 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.
Mr. Lutnick also said the current green card holders earn less money than the average American, and that Mr. Trump wanted to change that.
“So, same visas, but now just full of the best people,” Mr. Lutnick said.
Investors’ visas are common around the world, with dozens of countries offering versions of “golden visas” to wealthy individuals, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Canada and Italy.
Mr. Trump said the programme means the U.S. is “getting somebody great coming into our country because we think these will be some tremendous people” and singled out top U.S. college graduates from China, India and France as among those who will possibly be receiving gold cards.
“The companies are going to be very happy,” he said.
Published – December 11, 2025 06:36 am IST
