Is Trump’s $5 million Gold Card a hit? Is US selling 1,000 a day?

US President Donald Trump last month introduced a “gold card” visa as a way to legal residency in the country.

The plan requires an individual to spend $5 million directly for US citizenship.

While the programme has sparked debate over its high cost , US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has claimed that it has already seen a major milestone – 1,000 gold cards sold in a single day.

So, is the card really a hit? Let’s take a closer look.

‘A thousand gold cards sold in a day’

Speaking on All-In Podcast, the US Commerce Secretary expressed confidence in the programme’s long-term success by saying, “There are 37 million people in the world who are capable of buying the card… the president thinks we can sell a million.”

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Global attention has already been drawn to the plan as Lutnick disclosed, “Yesterday I sold a thousand.”

Trump reportedly came up with the gold card concept while meeting with financier John Paulson, according to Lutnick.

He was then given instructions on how to accomplish it.

“Elon Musk is building the software for it right now, and then it goes out in about two weeks,” Lutnick said.

According to Lutnick, holders of the gold card would be granted permanent residency in the United States, replacing the standard green card. According to reports, the money raised by this government initiative will be utilised to lower the national debt or fiscal deficit of the US.

He said that most cards would choose not to apply for citizenship to avoid US global taxes.

He explained, “If you are a US citizen, you end up paying global tax. So, outsiders will certainly not come to the US to pay global tax. So, if you have a green card, now a gold card, you will be a permanent resident of America (without paying tax). You can choose to be a citizen, but you don’t have to be… None of them will choose to be one (so they can avoid paying global tax).”

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“What they are going to have is to have the right to be in America (indefinitely, and at any time they want) by paying $5 million. They will be vetted, so they will be good people – those who will abide by the law. The US can always revoke it if they are evil or indulge in illegal activity.”

So, the idea is, for example, if I were not an American and lived in any other country in the world, I would buy six gold cards – one for me, one for my wife, and one for my four children – because God forbid, if some disaster happens, I want to have the option and the right to just go to the airport and fly to America. And for the US to just welcome us ‘home’. And once I’m ‘home’ and safe, I can resume my life, do business, or whatever else I want. And all their money earned abroad is non-taxable. Only what they earn in America when they live here will be taxable – that is the idea,” he added.

About the US gold card

The EB-5 immigrant investor visa programme would be replaced with the $5 million gold card scheme.

EB-5s were created by Congress in 1990 as a method for immigrants to obtain green cards in which a person must invest at least $1 million in a company – or $800k in a low-income area – that employs at least 10 people. The aim was to generate foreign investment.

In 2024, more than 4,500 EB-5 visas were issued, according to the Economic Times. About 8,000 people obtained investor visas in the 12-month period ending September 30, 2022, according to the Homeland Security Department’s most recent Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.

“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 had said while introducing the gold card in the Oval Office.

He added that companies, not just individuals, “will be able to buy gold cards.”

It echoes similar “golden visa” programmes in countries such as Canada, New Zealand, Malta and others that have allowed participants to pay a fee or make an investment in order to secure a pathway to residency in desirable places.

Trump said there would be no cap on the number of gold cards issued.

If the new programme replaces the existing EB-5 programme in two weeks, there are questions about what will happen to people in the existing programme.

In 2022, Congress extended the EB-5 programme until 2027, so Congressional action would be needed to change it.

But Trump has said gold cards won’t require Congressional approval.

Concerns over high price

According to Forbes, which conducted interviews with 18 billionaires from the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa to gauge their interest in Trump’s gold card visas, a large number of very wealthy people merely do not believe they require or desire American citizenship.

Some people don’t want to leave the nations where they started their companies and brought up their families.

Of the respondents, 13 billionaires, or nearly three-quarters, stated they would not be interested in getting a gold card visa, while three were undecided. Two billionaires surveyed by Forbes stated that they would give purchasing one serious thought.

 “If you’re a billionaire, you don’t need it,” one Canadian billionaire told the publication, while a European one said, “In my opinion, there is no reason for rich people to go to this programme.”

One Russian billionaire said, “Whoever has a business idea can do it now for very cheap, so why spend $5 million? I do not understand who will pay $5 million.”

“I wouldn’t want to be a citizen of any country other than India anytime – particularly in this century,” said Abhay Soi, who chairs India’s second-largest listed hospital chain by revenue.

With inputs from agencies