Indian visa applicants to be impacted as Trump announces $5 million ‘gold card’ pathway to US citizenship

US President Donald Trump has announced a new immigration initiative aimed to attract wealthy foreign investors through a 'gold card' that offers US citizenship for a whopping $5 million.

The newly introduced visa program will replace the EB-5 visa which will allow investors the privileges of a green card making them permanent US residents.

The EB-5 visa program was launched in 1990 to allow foreign investors to get US citizenship if they created or preserved jobs through capital investments.

The employment-based fifth preference category, administered by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), offered green cards to eligible investors who invest in new commercial enterprises in the US and create at least 10 new full-time jobs for American workers.

The minimum investment required for the EB-5 program was $1.05 million, or $800,000 if directed toward a qualifying infrastructure project or targeted employment area.

The replacement of EB-5 with the gold card program raises concerns about accessibility and fairness in the immigration system.

Trump, while speaking at the Oval Office on Feb 25, described the initiative as an upgrade from the green card system, calling it “green card privileges plus.”

"We’re going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card. This is a gold card," Trump told reporters.
The new scheme, to be launched in two weeks, aims to attract successful individuals who will contribute significantly to the US economy.

"They’ll be wealthy and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it’s going to be extremely successful," he said.

The introduction of the new scheme can hamper those relying on the EB-5 program as the new $5 million investment requirement could make it inaccessible to many individuals.

Indian applicants often face massive wait times, sometimes extending for decades, to secure employment-based green cards.

The sharp increase in visa fees could further disadvantage skilled Indian professionals already stuck in long green card backlogs.