The pricetag will be out or reach for the majority of people hoping to obtain US citizenship. (Image: Getty)
has said that he plans to offer a “gold card” for $5 million (£3.95 million) to people looking to purchase citizenship.
is well known for his love of gold and believes that the US Government could sell as many as 10 million cards to help reduce the country’s deficit.
Speaking in , he said: “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.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the gold card would replace EB-5 visas within a fortnight and provide investors with a path to citizenship.
EB-5 visas were introduced in 1990. They allow people who spend $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people to obtain permanent legal residency.
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The President made the announcement in the Oval Office as he signed more executive orders (Image: Getty)
Lutnick believes that raising the price of citizenship will deter fraud and enhance the security surrounding those allowed into the country.
Data from the Homeland Security Department’s most recent Yearbook of Immigration Statistics shows that around 8,000 people obtained a visa in the 12 months up to September 2022.
The EB-5 system has in the past been accused of being open to fraud, with a Congressional Research Service report outlining examples in 2021.
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The $5 million price tag will make the visa unobtainable to many (Image: Getty)
discussed the prospect of gold cards in front of reporters, saying that he believes the concept “could be great, could be fantastic.”
He added: “It’s somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication, it’s a road to citizenship for people, and essentially people of wealth or people of great talent, where people of wealth pay for those people of talent to get in, meaning companies will pay for people to get in and to have long, long term status in the country.”
Despite Congress overseeing what qualifies as eligibility for citizenship, the President has dismissed the idea that gold cards would rely on congressional approval.
The is not alone in offering citizenship to those with a level of wealth high enough to purchase permanent residency. Countries such as the UK, , , and have similar schemes to entice wealthy people from across the globe to live within their borders.