President Donald Trump revealed the first “gold card” visa that the White House hopes to sell to immigrants to reduce the national debt on Thursday.
As he interacted with reporters aboard Air Force One, the president waved what he called the “Trump card,” which was emblazoned with his image, saying that the visa would “be out in less than two weeks, probably.”
“For $5 million, this could be used. It was the first of the cards,” he told the media. “You know what that card is, it’s the gold card, the Trump card.”
When asked who the first buyer was, Trump said, “Me. … I’m the first buyer.”
“Pretty exciting, right? Anybody want to buy one?” he asked.
The gold card proposal modifies the government’s EB-5 immigrant visa program and would be sold to foreigners for $5 million, affording them work privileges and giving them a path to citizenship.
The Trump administration has touted the proposal as an avenue to reduce the federal debt, which sits at a whopping $36 trillion. Trump’s idea could raise $1 trillion if just 200,000 gold cards are issued, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during a Cabinet meeting in February.
The president believes creating gold cards could provide a way for companies such as Apple to retain or attract top talent. Any company or person could buy the cards on behalf of people wanting to get into the country and then hire those people.
“I get calls from, as an example, companies where they want to hire the No. 1 student at a school. Person comes from India, China, Japan, lots of different places. And they go to Harvard, the Wharton School of Finance, they go to Yale,” Trump said. “And they make job offers, but the offer is immediately rescinded because you have no idea whether or not that person can stay in the country. I want to be able to have that person stay in the country. These companies can go and buy a gold card, and they can use it as a matter of recruitment.”
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S GOLD CARD PROGRAM
“A lot of wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card,” the president added in February during remarks to reporters in the Oval Office. “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.”
The plan could face legal challenges, according to Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who said the president may need Congress to modify the EB-5 immigrant visa program long-term.
