US To Sell Citizenship For $5 Million With ‘Gold Card’, EB-5 Investor Visa To Be Axed [Watch]

President Donald Trump has announced his plans to replace EB-5 visa with ‘Gold Card’ residency permits, a path to citizenship for investors willing to pay $5 million (approximately Rs 43.7 crore).

“Wealthy people will come into out country by buying this card. They’ll be wealthy and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it’s going to be extremely successful,” Trump said in the Oval Office.

“We’re going to be selling 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,” he added, referencing the permits issued to US permanent residents.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed the “Trump Gold Card” will replace the 35-year-old EB-5 program within two weeks. He added that the revised process would reduce fraud and inefficiencies in the EB-5 system, according to Fox5.

Currently, EB-5 visa allows foreigners to secure a Green Card by investing approximately $1 million on US businesses that creates at least 10 jobs. This visa programme, established by Congress in 1990, to boost “the US economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors”, had emerged as a favourable option for a large number of Indians, especially H-1B visa holders.

However, a 2021 Congressional Research Service report had warned of fraud risks in the programme, including concerns over verifying the legal source of investment funds.