President Donald Trump is considering offering wealthy foreigners a “gold card,” which would serve as a $5 million path to American citizenship.
“We are going to be selling a gold card,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday evening.
“It’s going to be a route to citizenship, and wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card. They’ll be wealthy, and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes.”
The sale of these “gold cards” could begin within two weeks.
Trump also said he is open to selling the cards to Russian oligarchs, some of whom “are very nice people.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who stood next to Trump, said these gold visa cards will replace an existing visa program for foreign investors, according to The Hill.
EB5 visa program gives foreigners residency for investing at least $1.05 million in a business that creates at least 10 jobs in the U.S. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ website, Congress created this program in 1990 to boost the U.S. economy.
The Trump White House hopes to reduce the U.S. deficit with the help of the gold cards, Lutnick added.
“They’ll have to go through vetting, of course, to make sure they’re wonderful world class global citizens, they can come to America. President Trump can give them a green card, and they can invest in America, and we can use that money to reduce our deficit,” Lutnick said.