President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the US would sell a “gold card” to wealthy foreigners, giving them the right to live and work in the US and offering a path to citizenship in exchange for a $5 million fee.
“We’re going to be selling a gold card,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “You have a green card. This is a gold card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million and that’s going to give you green card privileges, plus it’s going to be a route to citizenship. And wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card.”
Trump said the sale of the cards will begin in about two weeks and suggested millions of such cards could be sold. Asked whether he would consider selling the cards to Russian oligarchs, Trump responded: “Yeah, possibly. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, standing alongside Trump, said the card will replace the government’s EB-5 immigrant investor visa program, which allows foreign investors to pump money into US projects that create jobs and then apply for visas to immigrate to the US.
“They’ll have to go through vetting, of course,” Lutnick said, “to make sure they’re wonderful world-class global citizens.”
Credit: CNN