Trump proposed to sell US residence permits for $5 million
US President Donald Trump has announced the sale of a five-million-dollar residence permit, the so-called ‘gold card’. This should replace the US visa programme for foreign investors, which has long been a subject of controversy.
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by CNN.
"You have a green card. This is a gold card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million and that’s going to give you green card privileges, plus it’s going to be a route to citizenship. And wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card," Trump said.
He added that the sale of the cards will begin in about two weeks and suggested millions of such cards could be sold.
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, explained that "gold card" will replace the government’s EB-5 immigrant investor visa program, which also provides a path to citizenship for wealthy foreign investors, but has become a source of fraud. Lutnick hinted that the administration will be more selective about who can apply for the "gold card".
Created by US Congress in 1992, the EB-5 program can grant green cards to immigrants who make a minimum investment of least $1,050,000, or $800,000 in economically distressed zones called targeted employment areas.
Trump believes that the new visa programme will be lucrative for the government and predicts that many companies will be willing to pay a $5 million fee to bring in skilled workers.
