DONALD Trump wants to begin selling gold card visas for $5million to foreigners who want to move to America and create jobs.
The US president on Tuesday said the immigration programme, which he said was legal, could start in as little as two weeks.
Donald Trump said he wants to sell gold cards to foreigners wanting to move to the USGetty
Trump said the programme could start in about two weeksGetty Images
GettyThe President hopes those joining the scheme will be ‘spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes to help the US economy[/caption]
He added it is possible Russian oligarchs could qualify for the gold cards, which were branded as “somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication”.
Trump said in the Oval Office: “We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million and that’s going to give you Green Card privileges, plus it’s going to be a route to citizenship.
“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 and employing a lot of people.
“And we think it’s going to be extremely successful and never been done before.”
Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, explained that the Trump administration intends to end the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program and “replace it with the Trump gold card.”
The EB-5 program grants investors the opportunity to apply for permanent U.S. residence if they “make the necessary investment in a commercial enterprise in the United States” and intend to generate or sustain 10 permanent full-time jobs.
Lutnick described the EB-5 program as “full of nonsense, make-believe and fraud,” adding, “It was a way to get a green card that was low priced.”
Once vetted, gold card holders “can invest in America and we can use that money to reduce our deficit,” he said.
The president projected that the gold card will attract “very high level people” who contribute to job creation.
With these cards, “you’re getting big taxpayers, big job producers, and we’ll be able to sell maybe a million of these cards, maybe more than that,” Trump said.
It comes after Trump sacked a whopping 2,000 workers and put thousands more on leave in the latest USAID chaos.
Just day earlier, Tesla tycoon and DOGE leader Elon Musk sent a stern warning to all federal employees saying they must reveal exactly what they “got done last week” or resign.
Trump has long vowed to gut what he calls a bloated federal workforce hampering America’s economy.
He set up a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — led by Musk — and tasked him with slashing regulations, cutting spending, and reducing government jobs.
Now Trump’s administration said it was placing all but a mere handful of USAID workers worldwide on paid administrative leave and eliminating around 2,000 of those positions in the US.
ReutersRecently fired U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) staff react as they leave work[/caption]
APA United States Agency for International Development worker, hugs supporters[/caption]
Meanwhile, Ukraine agreed to a minerals deal with the US, according to Ukrainian security officials.
Kyiv hopes the move will improve relations with the Trump administration and bolster long-term security ties.
The agreement, which centres on the joint development of Ukraine’s vast mineral resources — including oil and gas — comes after Washington dropped its demand for a $500 billion share of potential revenues.
While the deal does not include explicit US security guarantees, Ukrainian officials see it as a step toward deepening economic and strategic cooperation, the Financial Times reports.
“The minerals agreement is only part of the picture. We have heard multiple times from the US administration that it’s part of a bigger picture,” Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Olha Stefanishyna told the FT on Tuesday.
The final version, dated February 24 and seen by the FT, establishes a fund into which Ukraine will contribute 50% of proceeds from future monetisation of state-owned mineral resources.
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