United States: On February 25, US President  Donald Trump declared a new immigration policy, a gold card visa, replacing the current EB-5 visa program. The initiative is aimed at foreign wealthy investors, providing a path to US citizenship for an investment of $5 million.

The new gold investor visa is perceived to be a setback to many Indians who are looking at applying for a US green card or permanent residence through the EB-5 visa program. The existing EB-5 visa program allows foreign investors to gain US residency if they create or preserve jobs through capital investments. Notably, the minimum investments under this scheme were set at  $1,050,000, or $800,000 for economically weaker areas.

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The new gold card, priced at $5 million, will provide wealthy immigrants with the right to live and work in the country and a pathway to citizenship. According to the president, the details of the scheme will be revealed in two weeks.
Declaring the new immigration initiative, the president anticipates that as new visas get sold, they would bring in job creators and could be used to reduce the US national deficit. However, There have been criticism against the new gold card including the visa criteria that those who can pay can play, suggesting that the US entry is not based on the merit but affordability, which would push back many skilled people who have been the country’s backbone so far.

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Ajay Bhutoria, a Silicon Valley based Democrat and advocate for immigration reform, observed that the new gold card would sideline people who have been the central pillar of US workforce and communities. “The idea that you can buy your way into green card and citizenship for $5 million, while millions of skilled workers,  – engineers-doctors, tech experts – languishes in a backlog that stretches over 50 years for some, especially from countries like India, is a slap in the face”  Bhutoria said. Stating that these are those who already prove their worth by building lives, driving innovations and paying taxes, Bhutoria noted that they will not benefit from the new scheme, as it roll out red carpet only to the wealthy. ‘It is not sophistication, but an elitism dressed up as a policy,’ he opined.

At the press conference at the Oval Office, the US president said the new gold card would be a pathway to highly prized US citizenship, adding that a lot of people wish to be in the US, and they will be, as people with money, able to work and provide jobs and build companies.

Speaking to the reporters, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the EB- program “full of nonsense” which is currently issued under the employment-based fifth preference category or EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program. The EB-5 was established in 1990 through the Immigration Act of 1990 aiming to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors, as per claim by the USCIS website.

However, with the new gold card, which is seen as a premium version of EB-5, the president has announced that he would end the existing EB-5 program and replace it with a gold card. “The EB-5 program … it was full of nonsense, make-believe and fraud, and it was a way to get a green card that was low price,” the president said.

The new gold card would provide green card privileges apart from being a route to US citizenship, the president said, noting that wealthy people would be coming into the country by buying this card, helping it to reduce the deficit.
Trump expects that the federal government could sell 10 million “gold cards”.