What Is the Gold Card? It's Kind of Like President Trump's Luxury Version of a Green Card

On Jan. 29, 2025, Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks posted to X that, "In the past seven days, U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended 4,577 individuals attempting to enter the country illegally, a significant 55 percent decrease from the previous week’s 10,281 apprehensions." According to Banks, this suggested that when it came to stopping the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States, he and his team were doing their job.

While this is happening at the border, ICE agents across America are conducting raids and arresting individuals they claim are illegal immigrants. Despite this, a Trump administration official told CNN that the agents are "not meeting their marks." Although President Trump is focusing on removing some immigrants from the U.S., he introduced a new kind of green card that would entice others. He's calling it the gold card. Details to follow.

President Trump's gold card was created to attract rich folks to America, reported NPR. "It's going to be a route to citizenship, and wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card," he said during a press conference. "They'll be wealthy, and they'll be successful, and they'll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes."

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is the person who nicknamed this new visa the "Trump Gold Card" which would replace the EB-5 immigrant investor visa. The EB-5 program was created by Congress in 1990 and requires an investment of $1.05 million in a business that creates full-time positions for at least 10 employees. If the business is in a rural area, the investment requirement is dropped to $800,000.

Under the gold card visa, a person can become a lawful permanent resident with a one-time payment of $5 million. It does not appeared to be tied to job creation in any way. President Trump says this will attract "very high-level people." When asked if he would allow Russian oligarchs to apply, President Trump said, "Yeah, possibly. Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people."

Many people on social media are comparing President Trump's gold card to a golden visa program, but the two are quite different. The EB-5 immigrant investor visa is actually a golden visa, as it's tied to an investment in the country where the immigrant is trying to gain citizenship. There are 18 countries, including the United States, that offer golden visas, per Global Citizen Solutions. Again, the gold card is not a golden visa as it's a pay-to-play scenario. There is no investment required.

Beyond the fact that a golden visa can help inject money into the economy of a country, it also helps the people who are doing the investing, per Henley & Partners. A golden visa provides the recipient with a secure and safe place to live, access to good schools and healthcare, a higher quality of life, and the opportunity to build a better life.