As President Donald Trump cracks down on illegal immigrants residing in the US, heâs offering migrants with enough money the opportunity to fast-track US citizenship.
On Tuesday (February 25), the Republican revealed plans that to introduce a $5,000,000 âgold cardâ visa that effectively would grant immigrants with deep enough pockets the chance to legally reside, and work, in America.
The 78-year-old described it as working like a âgreen card privileges plusâ paper, and could be ready to launch within a fortnight.
Now, Trump has touched on the topic again, this time to members during the inaugural meeting of his Cabinet, stating that he is certain heâll be able to flog thousands of them.
âI happen to think itâll sell like crazy. Itâs a market. But weâll know very soon,â the president said.
âIf we sell a million, thatâs $5 trillion dollars.
âI think we will sell a lot because I think thereâs really a thirst.â
USÂ Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick dubbed the option the âTrump gold cardâ and slammed the current EB-5 visa as âfull of nonsense and make-believe fraud.â
Elon Musk attended Trumpâs first Cabinet meeting of his second term (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The EB-5 visa costs around $20,000, and stipulates overseas investors have to invest around a million dollars into a USÂ company.
âWeâre going to end the EB-5 program and weâre going to replace it with the Trump gold card,â Trump told reporters in his Oval Office on Tuesday (February 26).
Lutnick further revealed the âgold cardâ will be reserved for âwonderful world-class global citizensâ and would go towards tackling the federal deficit.
Talking with journalists, he also teased it would offer a unique âroute to citizenshipâ that has ânever been done before,â adding: âTheyâll be wealthy and theyâll be successful, and theyâll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think itâs going to be extremely successful.â
Trumpâs âgold cardâ will mean Russian oligarchs could become US citizens (Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
âYouâre getting big taxpayers, big job producers, and weâll be able to sell maybe a million of these cards, maybe more than that,â Trump continued. âIt could be great, maybe it will be fantastic.â
The president claimed the loop-hole doesnât need Congress approval, either.
âWe donât need Congress ⌠Itâs a path to citizenship, a very strong path to citizenship, but weâre not doing citizenship. For that Iâd have to get Congress,â he said.
It would also be open to foreign investors from around the world, meaning it would be open to Russian businesspeople and oligarchs to apply for a gold card, providing they can cough up the $5 million fee.
âI know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people,â Trump continued. âTheyâre not quite as wealthy as they used to be.â