President Donald Trump said his administration is accepting applications for his “Gold Card” visa program starting Wednesday, touting the effort as critical to helping businesses hire foreign-born graduates of American universities.
“I’ve heard from Tim Cook of Apple and I’ve heard from a lot of people, some of the people at this table, that essentially in the United States you can’t keep the student. You can’t hire people from the best colleges because you don’t know whether or not you can keep the person,” Trump said Wednesday at a White House event with prominent tech industry executives.
Among those joining Trump were Michael Dell of Dell Technologies Inc., Enrique Lores of HP Inc., Antonio Neri of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. and Arvind Krishna of IBM Corp. The president said the fees generated by the program “could be a tremendous amount of money” for the US government.
The Gold Card highlights the tensions between the Trump administration’s aggressive clampdown on immigration, both legal and illegal, and its stated goal of reviving US industries and continuing the nation’s spirit of innovation.
Business leaders who have cheered other aspects of Trump’s agenda, such as favorable tax policies and de-regulation, have expressed concerns about the impact the president’s immigration policies will have on the economy and labor supply by forcing highly skilled foreigners to seek work elsewhere.
The Gold Card program, first announced in September, is an effort to encourage the world’s wealthy to emigrate to the US by offering them residency permits for a hefty price tag. An executive order on the Gold Card called for the secretaries of Commerce, State, and Homeland Security to “take all necessary and appropriate steps to implement the Gold Card program,” within 90 days. That deadline is Dec. 18.
Individuals would pay $1 million and businesses $2 million to obtain US residency for individuals through the Gold Card. Applicants would also have to pay a $15,000 processing and vetting fee. A “Platinum Card” would also be available for $5 million, which would allow recipients to “spend up to 270 days in the United States without being subject to U.S. taxes on non-U.S. income.” The latter card was listed as “coming soon” on a government website as of Wednesday.
“Basically, it’s a green card, but much better, much more powerful, a much stronger path. And a path is a big deal. Have to be great people, but much stronger path,” Trump said.
Immigration experts have said that Congress would likely need to approve any changes to visa policies. Trump administration officials say they’re planning to rely on existing pathways, so that legislation would not be required.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X that the $1 million and $2 million payments would allow individuals to “receive expedited EB-1 or EB-2 green cards following rigorous vetting.”
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