Why Trump's $5 Million "Gold Card" US Visa May Never Become A Reality
Since its announcement in February, President Donald Trump's $5 million "Gold Card" has seen strong interest among overseas wealthy seeking an easy passage to US citizenship. With lofty promises of an immediate launch, Trump flashed a laminated, golden prototype to reporters in April, saying the "Trump card" would be available in "less than two weeks." The White House even launched a website in June to sign people up to join a waiting list, but till now, there is no formal rollout plan in sight.
Despite lofty promises, experts believe that any Trump gold visa has a long way before launch-- if it can ever be implemented at all.
Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who is leading the rollout, has suggested that the gold card visa would replace the existing investor EB-5 visa, which has a long queue. However, immigration attorneys note that the current legal framework in the United States does not permit prioritising wealthy people over others who have been waiting in line.
Legal Challenges
According to Doug Rand, senior adviser to the former director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services under the Biden administration, the visa eligibility criteria have not been changed by Congress in the past 35 years, since the 1990 law that formed today's green card and temporary visa categories.
"There's no lawful basis to do this, and if they do it anyway, they're going to get sued, and they're almost certainly going to lose," Rand told The Washington Post.
The report noted that the US Supreme Court has ruled that Congress has "plenary power" over immigration issues and has supremacy over the executive branch in establishing immigration policy.
But George Fishman, a senior legal fellow at the Centre for Immigration Studies, said that in one 1950 decision, the court also said that "when Congress prescribes a procedure concerning the admissibility of aliens, it is not dealing alone with a legislative power. It is implementing an inherent executive power," according to the Post report.
The decision also didn't specifically say the executive branch could act without congressional authorisation, Fishman noted, adding "I'm very dubious it can be done without an act of Congress."
The US Congress has not changed visa categories in 35 years, and at times, legislators have pushed back when previous administrations pushed back against their powers. An example of this was seen when the Obama administration sought to give legal status to children brought to the US, or when Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expanded parole programs without congressional approval under Biden. In both instances, Republicans had argued that the executive branch had overstepped its authority.
Trump and his team have repeatedly exaggerated the likelihood of implementing a program like the Gold Card under current law, without making any effort to introduce legislation to make it happen.
"It would be hard to reconcile those views with the ability of the administration to create a new green card," Fishman noted.
Cato Institute's Alex Nowrasteh noted the current Republican-held Congress is especially resistant to creating pathways for residency or citizenship. He witnessed the June 25 House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on "Restoring Integrity and Security to the Visa Process," where the gold card didn't come up and Republicans called for further scrutiny of the existing visa process.
"There's zero appetite for people in Congress to consider this right now," Nowrasteh said.
Attorney Dominic Volek, group head of private clients at Henley and Partners, which advises the wealthy on visas and passports, noted that each week the Trump administration is making an announcement that's putting the steps in place that eventually may lead to the Gold Card.
"But there are still a lot of question marks in terms of how successful it will be at the end of the day," Volek told CNBC.
Experts' Warning
Amid legality issues surrounding the Gold Card, immigration attorneys are warning their clients to steer clear of the new citizenship pathway.
Philadelphia-based immigration attorney Ron Klasko told the Post he advised his clients from Canada and Europe, who were interested in the visa, not to pursue the path, as there was little use in even signing up for the waiting list until the path becomes clearer.
"Why would I want to do that before I know if it's a law, what the law says, what the requirements are, what information the form is going to ask me for, what documents I have to produce, what the terms and conditions are," Klasko said.
He also cautioned the visa seekers to get more information on how wealthy people would be taxed under the new form of residency.
Buffalo-based immigration attorney Rosanna Berardi noted that the White House has also not specified whether this would be a new visa category or replace an existing visa for foreign investors who create jobs. "This administration keeps forgetting that the executive branch doesn't make the law," she said
Team Trump's Plan For Gold Card
Lutnick recently told the Financial Times that 70,000 people had already signed up for the Trump card that would be made from real gold. In March, he touted the potential market for the cards to be 37 million.
Per the Trump administration's estimation, 200,000 cards would add a net $1 trillion for the Treasury, which would help in paying the federal debt.
Now, with questions looming over the future of the visa program, Commerce Department spokeswoman Kristen Eichamer said in a statement that "Secretary Lutnick is determined to follow through on President Trump's vision to create a Gold Card visa program that will raise unprecedented revenues for the United States."
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