Get your Gold Card visa from next week! Trump admin to start issuing $5 mn wildcard to US citizenship soon

The United States will begin issuing its new “gold card” residency permit — priced at a staggering $5 million — within the next week, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced Thursday.

The news comes just days after President Donald Trump revealed the prototype for the new visa aboard Air Force One. Holding up a card with his face and the inscription "The Trump Card," the president excitedly told reporters that the special visa would likely be available "in less than two weeks." "I'm the first buyer," he said. "Pretty exciting, huh?"

Trump previously suggested that the sale of these visas — a high-priced variant of the traditional green card — could bring job creators into the U.S. while helping to reduce the national deficit. The billionaire former real estate mogul, who has made the deportation of undocumented immigrants a top priority for his second term, sees the gold card as a pathway to US citizenship for wealthy foreign nationals.

The gold card is set to replace the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program, which was established in 1990 and allows individuals to obtain a green card by investing at least $1 million in a U.S. business that creates 10 jobs. Trump’s administration has expressed hopes of selling as many as "maybe a million" of the new visas and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of offering them to Russian oligarchs.

For $5 million, applicants would secure a faster, more exclusive route to residency, bypassing the lengthy and complex process of obtaining a green card through employment, investment, or family sponsorship.

Explaining the difference between the gold card and the green card, Trump emphasized that the former would provide an expedited process and an easier route to citizenship. In contrast, the green card is often a long and complicated journey, particularly for those seeking to invest under the current EB-5 program.

The launch of the gold card program is set to roll out next week, with sales expected to bring in substantial funds to support U.S. job creation and economic growth.