President Trump unveiled on Tuesday (25) his plans for a new visa program that he called the golden card, describing it as “somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication.”
The new program will allow “high-level individuals” a new “path to citizenship,” Trump said. The price, he stated, would be around $5 million.
Trump revealed his golden card plan to reporters in the Oval Office, where he was signing his latest round of executive orders.
The golden card would replace the EB-5 visa program, which similarly provides a path to citizenship for certain types of wealthy foreign investors but has been a conduit for fraud.
And Trump added: “They will be people with money and people who will create jobs.”
When asked if a Russian oligarch could be eligible for a golden card, Trump replied, “Yes, possibly” and added, “Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs who are nice people. It’s possible.”
He predicted that the golden card program would be a source of revenue for the government, arguing that many companies would pay the $5 million fee to bring in skilled workers.
“We could sell maybe a million of these cards, maybe more than that,” Trump said. “If you add up the numbers, they are very good.”
Source: The New York Times