Trump sets top price for immigrant investors to buy the American Dream

The United States has long undersold itself when pricing its investor visas, said President Trump, whose Gold Card program would raise the stakes to levels similar to what the wealthy pay to live in competing nations.

Announcing the Gold Card initiative in February, Mr. Trump said the special visa would cost $5 million and bring wealthy and successful people to America, where “they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people.”

The program will replace the EB-5 program, also known as a golden visa, which allows foreigners to obtain legal resident status and a work permit or green card if they invest a certain amount of money that creates at least 10 jobs. The legal resident status also applies to members of the investor’s immediate family.

Mr. Trump said the Gold Card would do all that, opening a pathway to citizenship and exempting foreign incomes from taxes.

Past fraud in the program led to calls to shut it down. Instead, Congress raised the investment threshold and imposed new restrictions, which Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Gold Card would eliminate.

The current investor visa generally requires a $1.05 million investment. Those who invest in specially targeted areas can receive an EB-5 visa by paying $800,000.

The Gold Card’s $5 million price is undoubtedly an increase from the EB-5, but it is not the world’s most expensive investor visa program.

Singapore’s Global Investment Program asks for a minimum investment of more than $7.7 million, according to Henley & Partners, a residence and citizenship investment firm. The key benefit is a pathway to citizenship after two years of permanent residence.

Investment visas top $1 million in several other countries, such as the Czech Republic ($3.4 million) and New Zealand (roughly $3 million).

Australia’s investment visa requires roughly $1 million.

Other countries are moving in the opposite direction. Britain had a $2.6 million golden visa before canceling the program in February 2022 because of concerns about national security and financial fraud.

The price of Mr. Trump’s Gold Card positions it “as a viable premium alternative within the international investment migration ecosystem,” said Dominic Volek, group head of private clients at Henley & Partners.

“With the right residency terms, tax incentives and an efficient application process, the Gold Card certainly has the potential to succeed,” he told The Washington Times in an email.

He said his company has attracted interest from Asians with ultra-high net worth and affluent Indian and Bangladeshi nationals.

Mr. Lutnick said to expect the Gold Card website, trumpcard.gov, to be busy once it is launched.

“Everyone I meet who’s not an American is going to want to buy the card if they have the fiscal capacity,” he told Axios. “Because why wouldn’t you want a plan B that says, ‘God forbid something bad happens, you come to the airport in America, and the person in immigration says welcome home?’”

He said the card is for those “who can help America pay off its debt.” Everyone who applies will be vetted.

Elon Musk, who oversaw the Department of Government Efficiency until leaving the Trump administration last week, said the administration is conducting a “quiet trial to make sure the system works properly.”

A key driver for the super-rich would be more favorable tax treatment than under the EB-5 program. Any exemption from taxation on worldwide income would “serve as a powerful driver of demand among affluent investors,” Mr. Volek said.

He said Henley & Partners is cautiously optimistic about the Gold Card’s success because the pool of those who can afford it is small.

“With the right strategic execution and international marketing support, the Gold Card could emerge not only as a new flagship offering for U.S. immigration but also as a benchmark for elite-tier migration worldwide,” he said.

Mr. Trump said the U.S. could sell 1 million or more Gold Cards, which he dubbed a green card with “a higher level of sophistication.”

A 2024 report from Henley & Partners found that the world had fewer than 30,000 centimillionaires, those whose net worth is at least $100 million.

A $5 million card would be 5% of their net worth.

Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, told Semafor in March that supporters of the Gold Card were working on legislation to make it possible.

“It is sort of the ultimate merit-based immigration,” Mr. Cornyn said. “And if we continue to attract the smartest, most accomplished people from around the world to America, that’s good for all of us.”

He told Migrant Insider that the Gold Card should be added “on top, not in lieu of, the EB-5.”

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, told Roll Call that the Gold Card should not replace the EB-5 program.

“There are a lot of people who come to this country with the EB-5 level that might not come at the $5 million level,” he said.

Democrats are much less interested in Mr. Trump’s Gold Card.

Rep. Ro Khanna, California Democrat, said the focus should be on the H1-B visa program for skilled workers rather than the net worth-based requirement of the EB-5 visa.

“You don’t need to have $5 million in your bank account to build a successful company in America. Just look at Sergey Brin, Sundar Pichai or Satya Nadella,” Mr. Khanna recently told Newsweek.

Mr. Brin is the Russia-born co-founder of Google. Mr. Pichai and Mr. Nadella were born in India and now run Google and Microsoft, respectively.

“We should welcome talented workers to America who will bring their creativity and productivity while also reforming the H1-B program to prevent abuses,” Mr. Khanna said.