Only one person has been granted President Donald Trump’s much‑publicized “gold card” visa so far, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a congressional committee on Thursday, a disclosure that appears to undercut earlier administration statements about brisk early sales of the program.
The scheme, launched in December and pitched by Trump as “essentially the green card on steroids,” allows foreigners to obtain a legal right to live and work in the United States in exchange for a minimum $1 million investment. Lutnick told lawmakers that, while only a single gold card has been approved to date, “there are hundreds in the queue that they are going through” and officials are proceeding carefully to get the program running correctly. He did not, however, address an obvious discrepancy between that tally and his prior claim that the government had sold some $1.3 billion “worth” of the product in just days after rollout.
The administration has packaged the initiative as a replacement for the long‑running EB‑5 investor visa program, which historically offered green cards to people who invested roughly $1 million in businesses that would create at least 10 jobs. The gold card comes with a $15,000 application fee on top of the minimum investment and includes corporate options — companies can reportedly spend $2 million to sponsor a foreign‑born employee — plus an annual 1% maintenance fee. Lutnick said the additional fee revenue underwrites “rigorous vetting” of applicants as the program eventually opens a path to U.S. citizenship.
Trump and his allies have framed the program as both an attraction for foreign talent and a source of revenue. Last year Lutnick told a cabinet meeting the gold card could raise as much as $1 trillion and help “balance the budget.” That estimate stands in contrast to the nation’s current finances: publicly held federal debt sits at about $31.3 trillion, and outside forecasters such as the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget project a roughly $2 trillion federal budget deficit this fiscal year.
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The gold card is being marketed with conspicuous Trump branding — the federal website features a gilded card image with Trump’s likeness, a bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty and the slogan “Unlock life in America.” It also advertises an upcoming “Trump Platinum Card,” which the site says will cost $5 million and allow holders to spend up to 270 days per year in the United States without being taxed on non‑U.S. income.
The program’s rollout comes amid broader administration efforts to tighten other immigration channels even as it promotes high‑price routes for wealthy foreigners. That dual posture — promoting deportation and stricter asylum and work‑visa rules while expanding investor pathways — has been a recurring feature of Trump’s immigration agenda. When asked during Thursday’s hearing how proceeds from the gold card sales would be used, Lutnick said only that allocations “will be determined by the administration, and its terms are for the betterment of the United States of America.”
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Investor‑residency or “golden visa” schemes are common worldwide, with countries including the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Canada and Italy offering comparable programs. For now, however, the U.S. effort remains at an early and closely watched stage: one approved card, hundreds waiting in line, and unresolved questions about how many of the initially promised sales — and the bold revenue projections — will materialize.
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