President Trump announced the Trump Gold Card. The Trump Gold Card is a program that allows people to purchase legal immigration status in the United States. Unlike the EB-5 program, which required that the applicant invest one million dollars into a business in that would create a specific number of jobs over a specific period of years and that incentivizes investment in low income areas that need jobs, this is just a one-time payment.
How does this new program target individuals who will substantially benefit the United States? Well, individuals who pay $1,000,000.00 USD will have proven their value to the country by the very act of making that payment.
It’s not at all clear how this new policy can be reconciled with Trump’s “America First” policy promise. The Trump Gold Card is putting foreigners with money to spend ahead of US citizens who are seeking to bring family to the US. There is also nothing mentioned about how they intend to vet the money to ensure that people are not purchasing permanent residency using income gained from criminal activity . The EB-5 program has an entire complicated process that applicants are required to follow in order to prove the source of all of the money being invested in the US and that would not be possible in the weeks Trump promises these card will be processed in.
Who is eligible for the Trump Gold Card?
According to the official government website, “Applicants must be eligible for lawful permanent resident status, admissible to the United States, and a visa must be available.” It further notes with an asterisk that, “A small number of countries may have wait times of up to a year or more based on visa availability. “
Where are these visas coming from? Is this a new visa category?
The Trump Gold Card is not a new visa category. The President cannot make laws to create a new visa category. This is an executive order that is only changing the policy for the granting of visas in existing categories. Trump Gold Card applicants will be granted visas under the EB-1 or EB-2 visa categories, which means that people who pay these fees will be jumping in front of applicants who were applying the proper way and going through the intended visa process.
A $1 million gift upon completion of the individual’s vetting is evidence that the individual will substantially benefit the United States. An individual may also need to pay small, additional fees to the U.S. Department of State depending on his or her circumstances.
https://trumpcard.gov/
What is the Trump Platinum Card?
The Trump Platinum Card will allow individual applicants to reside in the United States for up to 270 days per year without being subject to tax on non-U.S. income. No more travel visas. Why? Why not?
You cannot apply for the Platinum Card yet but they do having a waiting list that you can join on the trumpcard.gov website.
Are there any other “cards” available?
Yes! The final card announced is the Trump Corporate Gold Card.
What is the Corporate Gold Card?
The trumpcard.gov website describes the Corporate Gold Card as follows:
The Trump Corporate Gold Card is issued to a corporate sponsor for one or more of the sponsor’s employees. To apply, the corporate sponsor must pay a nonrefundable, $15,000 DHS processing fee per employee. Corporate sponsors may apply for multiple employees at once. A $2 million per employee gift upon completion of the employee’s vetting is evidence that the employee will substantially benefit the United States. The advantage of the Trump Corporate Gold Card is that corporate sponsors may cease sponsoring one employee and use the gift contribution tied to the prior application as a basis for sponsoring a new employee, without a new $2 million gift. The Trump Corporate Gold Card is subject to a small, 1% annual maintenance fee and a 5% transfer fee, which includes the cost of a new DHS background check. Small additional fees to the U.S. Department of State may also apply depending on each employee’s circumstances.
How long does this process take?
According to the trumpcard.gov website, once an applicant’s processing fee and application are received, the process should take mere weeks. That is an insane statement since USCIS cannot do anything in less than a few months and recently wait times have been increasing to comically large numbers. If a US citizen wants to get their spouse a green card the current processing time estimate on the USCIS.gov website is 50 months. So by paying this fee people will be getting their gold card in a matter of weeks while the spouse of a US citizen will be stuck outside the US for 50 months.
The website does state that the applicant will need to attend a visa interview and submit any additional documents in a timely manner in order to receive their gold card in that several week time frame but it’s not clear how people will even be able to get a visa interview at a US consulate that quickly. It usually takes some time to be scheduled.
Where can you learn more about this ridiculous announcement?
By visiting https://trumpcard.gov/.
The President of the United States is selling dinners at the White House, official pardons, and now permanent residency in the U.S. and eventual citizenship. This is embarrassing.
You can see what the website looks like below.
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