Donald Trump has announced plans to sell ‘gold cards’ to millionaires who want to acquire citizenship in the US after deporting 37,660 people in his first month in the White House. Foreigners willing to spend $5 million (£3.9 million) would be given ‘green card privileges’ and a ‘route to citizenship’.
The US president said even Russian oligarchs – some of which he claimed are ‘very nice people’ – would be allowed to qualify. He made the shock announcement while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon. ‘Wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card,’ Trump said.
‘They will be wealthy and they will be successful, and they will be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people.’. When asked by a journalist if Russian millionaires with links to the Kremlin would be eligible, he said: ‘Yeah, possibly.
‘I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.’. It is understood that the existing EB-5 immigrant investor visa programme, which requires a minimum $800,000 investment will be replaces with the the gold card plan. Secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick clarified the Trump administration plans to terminate the somewhat similar programme, calling it ‘full of nonsense, make-believe and fraud.’.
‘It was a way to get a green card that was low priced,’ Lutnick stressed. Once vetted, he explained that gold card holders ‘can invest in America and we can use that money to reduce our deficit.’. Trump predicted that the scheme will bring in ‘very high level’ people who create jobs in the US, but details of the new plan are set to be released in two weeks.
‘I do not believe that the current offer will have a big impact, as getting a green card in the US if you meet certain criteria, is not difficult,’ said Bassim Haidar, a former UK non-domiciled multimillionaire/. ‘Paying $5 million for a golden visa and getting taxed on your global income defeats the purpose.’.
This comes at a time when the European Union is pressuring member states to withdraw or tighten residency-by-investment programs, which can trigger house price bubbles and bring marginal benefits to GDP, as well as increase the risks of tax evasion and corruption.
A 2021 study of EU golden visa programmes by London School of Economics and Political Science and Harvard University researchers found that the funds generated by these schemes represented only a ‘miniscule’ proportion of foreign investment with ‘negligible’ economic impact.
The EB-5 visa was primarily used by Hong Kong and China residents who owned businesses in the US or wanted their children to study in the US, said John Hu, founder of Hong Kong-based John Hu Migration Consulting. Raising the investment threshold to $5 million would be deterrent for many Chinese nationals currently accessing the scheme, he added.
‘The total number of applicants, if the golden visa is going to replace the EB5, will drop significantly,’ Hu said, adding global tax liabilities were always a concern for rich people. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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