The “Trump Gold Card” will generate billions of dollars for the federal government, but will not expand the huge inflow of migrants into the careers sought by skilled American graduates, says Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
“The program is part of the already approved visas,” Lutnick told a reporter during a White House press event, adding:
The average green card holder earns less than the average American. So they were more likely to be on the dole and be on our assistance programs than average Americans. The idea is from President Trump, he wants to raise it, bring the best people into America. So same visas, but now just full of the best people.
The fast-track ticket to citizenship can be bought by vetted individuals for $1 million or purchased by a company for $2 million. The company can reuse the ticket for a different person every five years.
Trump touted his sale of citizenship by saying it would raise funds for the government, as well as provide specific foreign workers sought by Fortune 500 companies. “The companies will be very happy, and I know Apple will be very happy,” Trump said, adding:
People are just buying them, somewhat like a green card, but with big advantages over a green card: Companies are going to be able to go to the Wharton School of Finance, Harvard, MIT, wherever you may get your [foreign] students, any school, and you’re able to buy the card and keep that person in the United States, actually, so there’s certainty, because a lot of I’ve heard from Tim Cook of Apple, and I’ve heard from a lot of people, [including] some of the [technology exectives] at this table that essentially, in the United States, you can’t keep the [foreign] student. You can’t hire [foreign] people from the best colleges, because … you could say there’s no way of guaranteeing that they’re able to stay in the country.
However, employers already have multiple ways to hire foreigners who graduate from U.S. universities.
For example, roughly 400,00 foreign students and graduates are already being allowed to stay and work in the United States for one to three years. That work-permit program is dubbed the Occupational Practical Training program, and is widely used by foreign managers to hire ethnic peers for careers, so excluding a large number of American graduates from professional careers.
Many of those OPT workers subsequently get picked for the H-1B program, which annually grants new long-term work visas to 120,000 foreign graduates each year. After several more years, H-1B workers can get green cards.
The OPT program was created by George W. Bush’s deputies, without approval from Congress.
In September, Trump signed a proclamation slamming the visa programs that keep roughly 2.5 million foreign graduates in jobs needed by American professionals.
The voter reaction to the announcement was mixed:
“We want the invaders out, not in,” said Rickey Halliday.
“Please tell me how this is America First? How is selling citizenship to foreigners good for our country and culture? ” asked Kelly McCarty. “American citizenship shouldn’t be something that goes to the highest bidder.”
“Every quote and comment is telling you this is bad,” said Nanomax.
A White House statement says the gold card is legal because the buyers are classified as candidates for the existing EB-1 or EB-2 pathway. The pathways are part of the “Employment-Based” route, which allocates 140,000 green cards to migrants nominated by employers each year.
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“A $1 million gift upon completion of the individual’s vetting is evidence that the individual will substantially benefit the United States,” says the gold card website.
The EB-1 pathway is for “Aliens with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics; Outstanding professors and researchers; or Certain multinational managers and executives.” The EB-2 route is for migrants “who are members of the professions holding advanced degrees or who have exceptional ability.”
Both routes are backlogged by Indian visa-workers who claim to be high-powered managers or gifted workers. For example, in August 2024, Breitbart News described one migrant who boasted that he had hired Indian contractors to embellish his claimed academic resume:
The way this works is that they interview you to learn the key things you’ve done and record it, draft an article from your interview, ask you to do a final review and edits, and then work with various publications to get your article published.
They’re fairly expensive and charge $3500 for 1 article, $6700 for 2 and $9600 for 3. They’re also quite slow — I decided to use them in mid-December and the articles came out in May and June, 6-7 months later.
Still, the EB-1 and EB-2 pathways are far quicker than the EB-3 pathway.
The EB-3 pathway is allocated to ordinary visa workers, such as the vast majority of H-1B, H4EAD, L-1, and -1 visa workers now being imported to fill jobs that would otherwise go to young and mid-career Americans. Many of the ordinary visa workers willingly pay kickbacks to get starter jobs in the United States. This willingness to pay kickbacks ensures that many executives have a personal economic incentive to fire productive American professionals so their jobs can be sold to Indian migrants, often via a series of well-organized brokers and subcontractors.
The card plan faces additional pitfalls.
The Trump Gold Card is likely to trigger lawsuits by lawyers who are paid to guide migrants through the EB-1 and EB-2 pathways. It is also likely to be used by the many companies that are paid to help migrants by green cards via the EB-5 pathway, which offers 10,000 cards per year. The EB-5 cards are given to migrants who lend roughly $1 million to companies, typically to real estate investors.
The number of gold cards to be sold may be reduced by the existence of the rival paths, including the OPT-to-H-1B and EB-5 routes.
Also, there is a floating cap on the number of green cards that can be awarded to migrants from each nation per year. Those country caps keep any Indian applicants in line for roughly 10 years, regardless of the Trump Gold Card status.
“The administration can’t replace or bypass the normal immigration system,” said a tweet from U.S. Tech Workers, which champions American professionals. Would-be migrants “end up with two parallel tracks offering identical outcomes, except one charges a massive fee for no added benefit.”
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