Foreign nationals with $5 million to spare will soon be able to register for a new “gold card” visa that would give them the right to live and work permanently in the United States, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Wednesday.
“I expect there will be a website up called ‘Trump card dot gov’ in about a week,” Lutnick said at Axios’ “Building the Future” event in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. “The details of that will come soon after, but people can start to register.”
Further information about the visa program will come in the next few weeks, he added.
Lutnick has said the card would replace the government’s EB-5 immigrant investor visa program, which grants green cards to immigrants who make a comparatively smaller investment of $1.8 million into the US or $900,000 into economically distressed zones.
On Wednesday, Lutnick suggested there is already strong interest in the new visa program, saying that on a recent trip to the Middle East he was already “selling” cards.
“Basically, everyone I meet who is not an American is going to want to buy this card if they have the fiscal capacity,” Lutnick said.
The new “gold card” visa program was first proposed in February by President Donald Trump.
“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 from the Oval Office in February.
Immigration law experts have warned that creating a new visa requires approval from Congress, though.
On Wednesday, Lutnick said the “gold card” program could help pay down the US federal debt, which currently totals over $36 trillion.
“These are going to be great people who are going to come and bring businesses and opportunity to America, and they’re going to pay $5 million,” Lutnick said. “If there are 200,000 people who pay, that’s a trillion dollars. That pays for everything.”
CNN’s Michael Williams, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to reporting.
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