Key points
- Revenue could be used to reduce US national deficit
- Russian oligarchs may be eligible: Trump
- US president says they may sell up to 1m cards
WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump unveiled plans Tuesday to sell new “gold card” residency permits for a price of $5 million each — and said Russian oligarchs may be eligible.
Trump said sales of the new visa, a high-price version of the traditional green card, would bring in job creators and could be used to reduce the US national deficit.
“We’re going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card, this is a gold card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The Republican president has made the deportation of millions of undocumented migrants a priority of his second term, the AFP reported.
“A lot of people are going to want to be in this country, and they’ll be able to work and provide jobs and build companies,” Trump said. “It’ll be people with money.”
Sales of the cards would start in about two weeks, Trump added.
A lot of people are going to want to be in this country, and they’ll be able to work and provide jobs and build companies,” Trump said. “It’ll be people with money.” – US President Donald Trump
“We’ll be able to sell maybe a million of these cards. We have it all worked out from a legal standpoint,” Trump added.
The billionaire former real estate tycoon said that all applicants for the new gold cards would be carefully vetted.
But asked if wealthy Russians would also be able to apply, Trump said it was a possibility.
“Possibly. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people. It’s possible,” Trump said. “They’re not as wealthy as they used to be. I think they can. I think they can afford $5 million.”
Western sanctions
A number of Russian oligarchs have been hit by western sanctions since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Trump has caused shock in European capitals by suddenly opening negotiations with Russia to end the war, amid fears that he could be willing to sell Ukraine short, according to AFP.
The US president told reporters that lifting sanctions on Russia was possible “at some point” but was not currently on the table.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, standing at Trump’s side in the Oval Office, said of the gold cards that “we can use that money to reduce our deficit.”
Trump, who has branded a series of hotels and casinos in a long business career, even suggested the new cards could also be named after him.
“Somebody said, ‘Can we call it the Trump gold card?’ I said, ‘If it helps, use the name Trump,” he said.
UK experiment
BBC reported in 2023 that a review of so-called “golden visas” found a “small” number of foreign investors were “potentially at high risk” of having links to corruption or organised crime.
The findings were set out by the British home secretary after the government shut down Tier 1 investor visas in 2022.
The fast-track scheme was introduced in 2008 to encourage wealthy people from outside the EU to invest in the UK.
Prior to being shut, there had been concerns the scheme was open to abuse, the British state broadcaster said.
The government halted the scheme in February 2022 saying it had “failed to deliver for the UK people and gave opportunities for corrupt elites to access the UK”.
