The US government can implement about 1.1 million constant resident cards in the current financial year, which are divided into categories for family members, employees with advanced skills and other groups based on precise rules.
Lutnick originally proposed the Golden Trump card as a deputy of one of these categories, known as Visa Investor EB-5, which is perhaps the closest thing that the United States currently has a golden visa.
The program created by the Congress in 1990 allows about 10,000 foreigners to obtain a green card each year, making an investment of $ 1.05 million in the United States (or USD 800,000 in rural areas and regions harassed by high unemployment), supporting at least 10 full -time jobs.
After the initial development of the program, experts say that legislators came to a great time to make sure that he was not seen as a path for corrupt oligarchs to unjustly buy to the United States. Part of this effort was to ensure a thorough assessment of each EB-5 application in order to check whether investment funds come from illegal or tasteless sources.
“In SZCIS there is a whole unit filled with economists and national security experts,” who review the EB-5 applications, says Doug Rand, a former senior consultant of the CEO under Biden administration. During his stay in the government, Rand says that so many documents were associated with EB-5 petitions that high files stacks meant that the floor in the USScis headquarters was hanging.
It is not clear whether the same level of control will be applied to the Gold Card program. Asked during the February check -in whether the Russian oligarch will qualify, Trump said “yes, hey, I know some Russian oligarchs who are very nice people.”
Supporters of the existing EB-5 program claim that it was mainly used by ordinary immigrants who have been saving for years on investments in American real estate and other enterprises, and expect that one day they will earn their money. In other words, this is not a group of people who can usually afford to pay $ 5 million for a golden card and never see these funds again.
“Most people who try to use the EB-5 program as a road to the green card and citizenship, there is no such money,” says Brad Sher, CEO of EB5 Group, an investment company that specializes in collecting money for EB5 real estate designs. “These are mainly people from the working class who work hard to save their money, and often use most of their savings to come up with investment amounts to use the EB-5.” (Sher adds that he supports the Golden Trump card, although he hopes that he can coexist next to the EB-5 visit).
During the initial office briefing of February 25, Lutnick said that the Gold Card initiative would start in about two weeks. During the podcast interview, which was released a month later, on March 20, he also claimed that the project was right around the corner. “He comes out about two weeks from today,” said Lutnick, cutting his hand in the air to emphasize. Regardless of whether it is really ready, and if so, it will be announced, remain unknown.
Additional reports of Matt Giles and Zeyi Yang.