Nearly 70,000 people have signed up for the “Trump Card,” a proposed U.S. visa program that would offer legal residency to foreign nationals willing to pay a $5 million fee to the United States, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Lutnick, who’s spearheading the initiative, told the Financial Times on June 17 that 68,703 individuals—and counting—had joined the waiting list via a website launched just a week ago. The Trump Card, which he said “will be made of gold,” prominently features President Donald Trump’s image and the $5 million figure.The initiative is being pitched as a dual-purpose policy: a strategy to attract high-net-worth business leaders who would live in the United States, create jobs, and pay taxes, and a revenue-generating tool to help reduce the nation’s nearly $37 trillion debt.
“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,” Trump said in February when he first announced the plan.
Lutnick has suggested that the Trump Card could eventually replace the existing EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which allows foreigners to apply for a green card by investing at least $1.05 million—or $800,000 in designated high-unemployment or rural areas—and creating at least 10 full-time U.S. jobs.
Aaron Grau, executive director of Invest in the USA (IIUSA), a trade association representing EB-5 stakeholders, described EB-5 as a “proven model” for how targeted immigration policies can strengthen the U.S. economy.
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