How Trump’s $5M ‘gold card’ for rich migrants would work — here’s the other nations that have tried it

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s plans for a $5 million “gold card” that would grant “green-card privileges-plus” to wealthy foreigners is similar to other initiatives in both the US and overseas — but good government watchdogs around the world have warned that the schemes carry a risk of corruption.

The plan announced Tuesday would streamline and boost the amount of capital required to partake in the convoluted and backlogged EB-5 visa program, which currently applies to foreign nationals who make investments of roughly $1 million in the US and clear federal vetting, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday at Trump’s first cabinet meeting.

According to Lutnick, there currently are 250,000 people waiting for approval for an EB-5 visa, which was created by Congress in 1990 and sets different investment thresholds based on each region of the US. For example, applicants who want to invest in rural and high-unemployment areas need only to sink $800,000 to clear their way for a visa.

“There’s a line for EB-5 of 250,000 right now. 200,000 of these gold green cards [at $5 million] is $1 trillion to pay down our debt,” said Lutnick, referring to the $36.5 trillion national debt.

“And that’s why the president is doing it, because we are going to balance this budget, and we are going to pay off the debt under President Trump.”

Lutnick added that the Commerce Department and Department of Homeland Security, led by Secretary Kristi Noem, will work together on reworking the EB-5 program into the “gold card” format, which Trump said Tuesday he hopes to launch within two weeks.

You pay, you stay

The EB-5 program currently grants two-year conditional residency to investors and their immediate family if they can show they will create 10 US jobs and meet the investment benchmarks.

In the past 25 years, only 135,518 EB-5 visas have been issued, according to data from the Invest In the USA (IIUSA) trade association of program participants — with more than 90% of those going to Targeted Employment Areas, a preference that would be dropped if the gold-card plan is adopted as described.

The flat, up-front $5 million fee would eliminate some of the historical sources of fraud in the EB-5 program, such as phony investments, but might still be vulnerable to use of ill-gotten proceeds from abroad.

So far in fiscal 2025, about 4,600 EB-5 visas have been granted — 55% to applicants from mainland China, 16% to Vietnamese citizens, and 7% each to Indian and Taiwanese investors, with South Korea (4%) rounding out the top five.

The plan to sell green cards could even entice Russian oligarchs, Trump said Tuesday, adding Wednesday that China’s industrial titans would also be welcome — before specifying that some names may be blocked due to vetting concerns.

Trump also said that the program would not convey automatic citizenship, but would provide a path toward it for applicants. Green-card holders can apply to become American citizens after 5 years.

Corruption concern

The idea of selling residency or citizenship has existed for years and has gained popularity around the globe since the mid-’80s, with small island countries giving wealthy foreigners the option of forking over cash to gain lower tax rates and other perks such as improved passport privileges for travel.

More than 100 countries have some form of program that allows investors migration rights, according to New York-based firm Henley & Partners, which facilitates the process for clients.

However, none have a buy-in rate that matches what Trump is proposing.

The Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, one well-known investment migration hub, carries a $230,000 price tag — with nearby St. Kitts and Nevis, one of the pioneers of the investment plan, billing $250,000 for citizenship.

Egypt charges $250,000 for citizenship while European Union member Malta offers a sliding scale, with €600,000 (just under $630,000) the get-in rate if an applicant wants 36 months of residency — or a heftier €750,000 ($787,000) for those who want to stay on the island for just 12 months.

EU countries sold residency to 132,000 people between 2011 and 2019, generating €21.4 billion ($22.4 billion) in gross revenue, according to the European Parliamentary Research Service.

The Financial Action Task Force (FAFT), an initiative launched in 1989 by the G7 countries to combat money laundering, has warned about the potential abuse of such programs, despite their prevalence.

Some case studies highlighted by the group focused on EB-5 abuses in the US, including criminal middlemen and doctored receipts for investments, which would be negated by Trump’s up-front charge.

“Criminals have exploited a range of vulnerabilities in [citizenship by investment]/[residency by investment] programmes to perpetrate massive frauds and launder proceeds of crime and corruption reaching into the billions of dollars, while also hiding assets in less compliant or effective jurisdictions, facilitating organised crime and evading law enforcement,” the task force said in a 2023 report.

“CBI programmes are particularly vulnerable because they allow illicit actors more global mobility, the ability to open bank accounts and establish shell companies in other jurisdictions, and to disguise their identity or conceal where they may owe taxes or other liabilities from financial institutions by using new identification documents.”

The report says that “opportunities for abuse tend to arise especially when governments struggle to govern their programmes effectively.”

“Properly managed, CBI or RBI programmes can, theoretically, benefit both host countries
and individuals,” the report said.

“However, in practice, such programmes [sic] bring significant risks of money laundering, fraud, and other forms of misuse, and should be designed and administered in a risk-sensitive way, including by implementing safeguards.”

Some issues identified in the report are well-known, such as foreign oligarchs using Western property purchases to safeguard at-risk funds earned through questionable means abraod.

The FAFT report also identifies risks as including the possibility that people will “obtain a visa or citizenship through investment programmes as an insurance policy before committing crimes (or before these offences [sic] are discovered) or as a tool to enable future crimes.”

“It is common for high-risk individuals to gift wealth to their spouse or other family members who will make the lead application, with the high-risk individual then applying as a family dependent,” the report also says.

“This typology can be particularly common in the case of corrupt actors. Where the source of wealth or funds associated to an applicant is derived from a particular third-party associate or extended family member, it is important that they are also subject to vetting.”