{"id":49803,"date":"2025-03-10T11:47:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T04:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/porticoandbridge.com\/?p=49803"},"modified":"2025-03-10T11:47:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T04:47:17","slug":"trump-sets-5-trillion-target-from-gold-card-bold-plan-to-erase-national-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/porticoandbridge.com\/en\/trump-sets-5-trillion-target-from-gold-card-bold-plan-to-erase-national-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Sets $5 Trillion Target from \u201cGold Card\u201d \u2014 Bold Plan to Erase National Debt"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump has announced plans to end the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program and replace it with a new \u201cGold Card\u201d that would offer applicants a \u201cstrong\u201d path to US citizenship in exchange for a $5 million payment<\/strong> to the US government \u2014 suggesting it would function more like an economic contribution than a direct investment.<\/p>\n

Speaking from the Oval Office alongside Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Trump described the Gold Card as a bold strategy to attract high-net-worth individuals to the United States. The administration plans to roll out the program within two weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be selling a Gold Card,\u201d<\/strong> Trump said, noting that it would give holders the same privileges as a Green Card. \u201cIt\u2019s a route to citizenship, and wealthy people will come into our country by buying this card. They\u2019ll be successful, spending a lot of money, paying taxes, and creating a lot of jobs.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump clarified that Gold Card holders would not be taxed on income earned outside the United States but would be subject to full taxation on domestic earnings. \u201cYou\u2019re getting big taxpayers and big job creators,\u201d<\/strong> he added.<\/p>\n

$5 Trillion Target \u2014 Plan to Erase National Debt<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Trump has set an ambitious goal of selling the Gold Card to one million investors<\/strong>, projecting $5 trillion<\/strong> in revenue.
\u201cIf we sell 10 million, that\u2019s $50 trillion. We have $35 trillion in debt. That\u2019d be nice, wouldn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

When a reporter asked whether Russian oligarchs \u2014 typically restricted under other citizenship-by-investment programs since the Ukraine war \u2014 would qualify, Trump did not rule out the possibility.
\u201cI know Russian oligarchs that are very nice people,\u201d<\/strong> he said, suggesting that they could be eligible if they meet the program\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n

Allowing Russians to apply would not conflict with previous policies. While the Biden administration had successfully pressured Caribbean CBI programs to block Russian and Belarusian applicants two years ago, Russian nationals have continued to qualify for the EB-5 visa.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

Why the Gold Card Will Replace the EB-5 Visa<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Gold Card will replace the EB-5 program \u2014 a program Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said is outdated and no longer effective.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EB-5 program had its challenges and was no longer working as intended,\u201d<\/strong> Lutnick said, calling it \u201can easy and low-cost way\u201d<\/strong> to obtain a Green Card.
\u201cRather than continuing with this flawed program, the president decided to replace it with the Trump Gold Card.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, Ishaan Khanna, President of the American Immigrant Investor Alliance (AIIA), a nonprofit political organization that advocates for EB-5 investors in Congress, disagreed with Lutnick\u2019s assessment.<\/p>\n

Khanna emphasized that the EB-5 program \u201chas created tens of thousands of jobs across the United States\u201d<\/strong> and cited a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report showing that \u201cless than 1% of EB-5 petitions were found to be fraudulent in the 2021 fiscal year.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although Khanna disagreed with Lutnick’s remarks, he welcomed \u201cthe President\u2019s confirmation of his long-standing support for legal immigration that benefits the US economy through job creation and investment.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

What Trump\u2019s Gold Card Would Offer<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Lutnick outlined how the new program would work, emphasizing that it would be \u201ca direct contribution to the US government\u201d<\/strong> rather than a traditional investment.<\/p>\n

Applicants would pay $5 million<\/strong> directly to the US government and undergo a vetting process to ensure they meet the program’s criteria as \u201chigh-caliber global citizens.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The funds raised through the Gold Card program would be used to reduce the national deficit.<\/p>\n

The Gold Card could also include provisions allowing companies to sponsor applicants with exceptional talent or skills. Trump pointed to recent graduates from elite universities as an example, suggesting that companies like Apple might sponsor Gold Cards for top-tier talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, it\u2019ll be people with money or people who create jobs,\u201d<\/strong> Trump said.<\/p>\n

\n

Trump Aims to Bypass Congress<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The administration framed the Gold Card as a visa program rather than direct citizenship, which Trump says falls under executive authority \u2014 allowing him to implement it without congressional approval.<\/p>\n

When asked about this, Trump explained that while the Gold Card offers a clear path to citizenship, it does not grant citizenship outright, which would require congressional action.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very strong path to citizenship, but we\u2019re not directly granting citizenship \u2014 that would require Congress,\u201d<\/strong> Trump said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump has announced plans to end the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program and replace it with a new \u201cGold Card\u201d that would offer applicants a \u201cstrong\u201d path to US citizenship in exchange for a $5 million payment to the US government \u2014 suggesting it would function more like an economic contribution than a … Read moreTrump Sets $5 Trillion Target from \u201cGold Card\u201d \u2014 Bold Plan to Erase National Debt<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":49482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-immigration"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/porticoandbridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/porticoandbridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/porticoandbridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/porticoandbridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/porticoandbridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/porticoandbridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49804,"href":"https:\/\/porticoandbridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49803\/revisions\/49804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/porticoandbridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/porticoandbridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/porticoandbridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/porticoandbridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}