On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced a plan to replace visa-by-investment with a new $5 million immigration option with a path to U.S. citizenship. And he said it will begin in… two weeks, though many legal experts are skeptical that this can be done without legislation from Congress or at a minimum a formal rulemaking.
They’ll be wealthy and they’ll be successful. And they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people.
Trump suggested that he could sell 1 million cards at $5 million apiece, raising $5 trillion. However that might represent around 10% of the world population with sufficient wealth to make this purchase? And that universe includes Russian oligarchs and African warlords.
In all likelihood, though, all this proposal really does is to raise the price (and perhaps grow the potential visa pool) of the current investor visa program – which sells visa too cheap given quantity available and immigrant interest. Demand massively outstrips supply, which means there are years-long waits to get one and private developers and consultants wind up making money on these.
- We should want more successful entrepreneurs to come to the U.S. but not necessarily those that have become wealthy through political connections and corruption.
- But we want those who would become successful entrepreneurs if given access to the United States – those who aren’t yet successful because of the country where they’re currently stuck!
- Yet we’re cracking down on H1B visa. This administration isn’t, actually, pro-legal immigration and just opposed to illegal immigration (believing that it’s the paperwork that carries moral weight).
The new proposal is being called the Trump Gold Card or Trump Visa but of course there was already a Trump Visa, issued by Chase.
This one was a terrible deal, 1% back to spend at Trump casinos. The 2020 Trump campaign actually issued a Platinum card, that likely violated American Express intellectual property.
The plan basically raises the price of the investor visa and captures the revenue for the federal government instead of directing it to favored private businesses. Less cronyism is actually a good thing!
The EB-5 visa program, officially the Immigrant Investor Program, currently allows foreign investors to obtain a U.S. green card (permanent residency).
- It takes a standard investment of $1,050,000 currently ($800,000 in targeted areas – rural or with high unemployment).
- The investment has to ‘create or preserve’ at least 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers within two years of admission to the U.S. and the investment has to be fully at-risk, with no guarantee of return.
- This provides a path to U.S. citizenship after 5 years, spouse and children can benefit, and no family or employer sponsor is needed.
In general, processing takes 2-4 years with faster processing for rural projects. However, since no more than 7% of each year’s EB-5 visas can go to nationals of a single country (unless the full allotment for the year is not taken), China faces long backlogs due to oversubscription.
At this point it reportedly can take over 10 years for new applicants from China to get approved. Wealthy Chinese nationals want out!
Ultimately there’s a lot of gaming of the U.S. immigration system because it’s overly cumbersome and complex (creating the opportunity to game) and desire to come here vastly outstrips the number of legal slots available. There are developers, employment brokers, and attorneys whose industry it is to take those limited slots and steer them.
There’s no better place to come be an entrepreneur or scientist. There’s no better place to secure wealth, although maybe a bunker in New Zealand is a second option (but if it comes to that, the people you’ve hired to protect you seem likely to turn on you when dollar-denominated wealth carries much less sway). We’re far enough away from China’s sphere of influence and Russia’s, and that makes the U.S. a great hedge.
We should want the best and brightest, and even want them more than the median person who holds citizenship today due to accident of birth. A $500,000 or $1 million loan for a hotel project though? That’s too cheap! It’s just a recipe for someone else’s grift to take some of the surplus from that transaction.
By the by, here’s what a Republican debate on immigration used to look like.
I don’t mind warlords or “oligarchs” (Mark Zuckerberg? Elon Musk? Warren Buffett?) as long as they aren’t criminals in the US. What I want are rich people moving to the US, so that they spend more money on houses, cars, planes, clothes, restaurants, personal services etc, inside the US, which would make the US a wealthier country. We want rich people coming to the US, not poor people.
@Tony W — Nope. Your idea sucks. You seem to want inflation. Look at what happened internally in places like Florida during the pandemic, costs rose dramatically when all the ‘rich’ folks showed up, pushing out the middle and working classes.
I do ‘mind’ warlords and oligarchs—they’re un-American. The United States of America is by and for the free people of the world. We should not give up on what actually made us great. We should not be ‘bought’ so cheaply either. $5 million? Psh. That’s nothing to these horrible kleptocrats.
Citizenship by investment is possible in a number of countries with varying requirements. I wonder if those who could invest would go for buying citizenship outright due to being an easier process.
Remarkable how “liberal” Reagan and Bush appear compared to what passes as “Republican” today.
Best place for scientists? With data and funding be arbitrarily withheld? With the word “climate” a death sentence for any research when it is the biggest problem facing humanity? I don’t think so. Maybe when these illiterates are gone, but right now the “climate” is hostile.
Obviously, not a fan of this proposed policy change. We need comprehensive bi-partisan immigration reform–not more loopholes for the super-rich. It seems that our elected representatives would rather demagogue against ‘poor’ and ‘brown’ folks instead of actually fixing anything about ‘the border.’ So far, I’ve only witnessed ‘performative’ ICE raids and the fascistic campaigning on ‘mass deportations’–Yet even #46 deported more people per day than these jabronis. Recall that (not-liberal-by-any-means) Reagan granted amnesty to nearly 3 million immigrants in 1986. There are better ways to lead than this. And no, Gary, we can’t all run away to New Zealand, as nice as it may be there.
To the typical complainers (I can’t help but think of OneTrippe who does this far too often): You realize that you have choice here, ignore or engage. Much of life is inherently ‘political’–power, money, and conflicting ideas. Travel is indeed political. Instead of demanding Gary ‘police’ comments or ‘just focus on airline status and points programs,’ maybe be grateful that he hosts us here. And to those who traffic in hate, animus, bigotry, you already know I’ll be waiting for you.
If a warlord of a citizen, if they are arrested, no embassy needs to be notified. Extradition may be easier.
When people ask me my ideology I tell them I’m a 1980s Republican. 2020s Republicans don’t get my vote. We’ve gone so far backwards.
Important to keep in mind, once you become a US citizen you have to pay taxes here regardless of where you live
@Joseph — Reagan’s policies are practically ‘woke’ compared to today’s GOP under #45/47. Not to mention, at least #40 remembered that the Russians are not our allies. Unbelievable.
Personally, I’d prefer Eisenhower’s ‘middle way,’ though no era is perfect (regarding immigration, see the Bracero Program, and of course, #34 was before the civil rights legislation of the 1960s).
Likewise, I’d appreciate it if we could please fast-forward from all this madness to our next Teddy Roosevelt equivalent, so that he or she can usher in a new Progressive era following this second Gilded Age–none of us should be a fan of the modern tech-bro-feudalistic ‘robber barons.’
Alas, it seems #45/47 instead plans to sell-off our beloved National Parks and public lands to the greedy billionaires and careless oil companies, squandering the legacy of that actually ‘great’ former US president (#26). So, sure, revive the Bull-Moose party! Bah!
We don’t have to allow this slide backwards. We know better.
@JD — On the US global taxation of citizens’ income, if you’re a kleptocrat, you simply off-shore your wealth anyway, using shell companies, lawyers, and accountants, so that no taxes are ever owed–more money, NO problems for them. Like, did no one pay attention to the Panama and Paradise Papers? Sheesh. Look that up, fellas.
But wait, you may say, what about when I become an oligarch someday? *deep sigh* …son, you ain’t in that club, especially if you’re ‘following along’ at VFTW. Darn, the corporate propaganda must be so compelling. Like, go easy, my dudes. Don’t guzzle that slop no more.
So yeah, I await the arrival of the shills, scabs, and bootlickers here. These faux-libertarian types (I’m thinking Mike P is gonna show up here eventually) are gonna brigade on about ‘free markets’ (or was he more into ‘anarchy’–honestly, I can’t tell with that guy–he’s pretty lost) but in reality it’s all been compromised, since in the US, our laws, lawmakers, lobbyists, courts, and other mercenaries for the super-rich have enabled big business to enjoy far more rights and privileges than our actual people, resulting in monopolization, regulatory capture, and unaccountable corporate overlords. The rest of us should be pretty upset about this.
Gary shame on you.
Context is everything and here are the quotes and circumstances of that exchange:
Asked whether he would consider selling the cards to Russian oligarchs, Trump responded:
“Yeah, possibly. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, standing alongside Trump, said the card will replace the government’s EB-5 immigrant investor visa program, which allows foreign investors to pump money into US projects that create jobs and then apply for visas to immigrate to the US.
“They’ll have to go through vetting, of course,” Lutnick said, “to make sure they’re wonderful world-class global citizens.”
https://keyt.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2025/02/25/trump-says-us-will-sell-5-million-gold-card-to-wealthy-foreigners/
@JNS:
“Citizenship by investment is possible in a number of countries with varying requirements. I wonder if those who could invest would go for buying citizenship outright due to being an easier process.”
I retired to Malta six years ago. Malta has a program that requires about $1,000,000. Supposedly, you have to stay in Malta until it is approved. Maybe six months. The truth is nobody waits. In fact, if you have the “right stuff”, you can fly in on your private plane in the A.M., and be out at dinnertime, with your new passport. It comes with a nifty perk. By getting a Maltese passport, you get automatic entry into all EU countries as well.
The only real issue that bothers me is that too many of them are Russian oligarchs or Chinese high value pigs.
@HADLEY V. BAXENDALE — No reason to ‘shame’ Gary at all. He provided ample context.
The premise of this policy change is flawed and corrupt. If such ‘vetting’ still allows a Russian oligarch to become a US citizen by paying a fee, then we have failed because many of them are war criminals–they materially supported Putin’s unjust war against the Ukrainian people.
As for jobs, there are already ample legal ways for foreign citizens to do business in the US without having to grant literal war criminals citizenship here. C’mon folks. This isn’t hard.
@Alan Z — I like Malta. Enjoyed visiting Valletta and taking the ferry to Gozo a few years back. So much history, and a lot of Game of Thrones film sites, too. Also, I will never forget investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who was murdered for her reporting on corruption, including the Panama Papers and global kleptocracy I mentioned above.
Several EU countries offer ‘golden visas’ as well, including Malta, Ireland, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, and Portugal, though it has become more restrictive over the years. Wealthy Russians, Chinese, and Arabs took full advantage. Some say it’s an economic lifeline to those smaller economies. But it is also the soft underbelly or Achilles heel to the rest of Europe.
On migration, generally, many Americans and Europeans, alike, unfortunately tend to react quite negatively against migrants, especially the non-wealthy kind. Our adversaries, namely Putin, knows this well–he and his oligarchs have been destabilizing the Middle East (like Syria) and Africa for years and years, leading to over a decade of migration crises in Europe, and the internal political divisions over this topic that inevitably follow. Far-right Putin-backed parties are gaining ground there, just like the far-right in the United States today. I hope that the center and the left can unite the continent against this global resurgence of fascism.
Does acquiring US citizenship also provide immunity from prosecution? I think not. So, if the oligarchs who fork over $5 million for citizenship do something that violates US law, why not prosecute them? Besides, in acquiring citizenship, they’ll make themselves known to us and we, if Messrs Patel and Bongino are doing their jobs, can watch them.
What DJT should do is stop Chinese from buying land in the US, especially farmland or land near US military bases. If he wants to raise tariffs, why not change laws to deal with discriminatory laws in countries like China, North Korea, Russia, or elsewhere?
“ There’s no better place to come be an entrepreneur or scientist.”?
“There’s” = “There was”, or “there is” in this context?
Either way, that is less true now than two months ago. The M-T-V regime is making the country into a less predictable, more lawless, more disorderly, and anti-science nation that is increasingly anti-women and anti-diversity.
Hi again 1990. The way the very wealthy nowadays basically avoid paying US taxes and use capital to grow capital faster than the average working stiff: borrow at low rates against appreciated assets and thereby postpone realization of income/capital gains for tax purposes. There are also other tax avoiding games that can be played, for example to harvest losses or depreciation.
@ 1990
Most expats or people who simply do most of their work overseas are not kleptocrats.
@GUWonder — Aware of that ‘loophole’ as well, though I was more focused on the immigration and citizenship angle of global kleptocracy in my earlier comments. Either way, I hope for an economic populism lead by the people that actually combats corruption from the top-down, for once. Petty theft gets all the attention while white collar crime is exponentially more damaging. When enough be enough.
@ jack the lad — Nice ‘straw man’. Sure, the average citizen overseas earns very little compared to these kleptocrats who are few in number but are dealing in billions of dollars, not mere thousands or even millions. C’mon…
I am opposed to this Trump desire. I may reconsider support if the golden visa costs $100 million and is packaged with a 50% wealth tax on global net worth above a billion for billionaires with such a visa and all other US persons. And no; it’s not a bill of attainder just because it would hit apartheid-lovers Musk and Thiel.
@GUWonder — Now we’re talking! We could also study what Vietnam did, one of their billionaires was convicted of fraud and of embezzling $12 billion; she is sentenced to death, but given the option to return $9 billion, and keep $3 billion, which sounds like plenty, in exchange for a mere life sentence. What a ‘choice’ she has.