U.S. President Donald Trump indicators an govt order within the Oval Workplace on the White Home on September 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump signed two govt orders, establishing the “Trump Gold Card” and introducing a $100,000 payment for H-1B visas.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Pictures Information | Getty Pictures
A model of this text first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth e-newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly information to the high-net-worth investor and shopper. Join to obtain future editions, straight to your inbox.
By slashing the worth of the Gold Card from $5 million to $1 million, President Donald Trump has created one of the crucial coveted offers within the world visa market, with demand already surging among the many world’s rich, based on immigration attorneys.
Final week, Trump signed an govt order saying the official launch of the Gold Card, which is able to price $1 million and grant residency in “document time,” he mentioned. When he first introduced the Gold Card in February, the worth was $5 million. Whereas the Gold Card web site additionally touts a future $5 million Platinum Card, with added tax advantages, the Platinum Card wasn’t within the govt order and wasn’t talked about within the press occasion.
With its new discounted worth and promise of speedy approvals, the Gold Card has immediately turn out to be one of the crucial wanted golden-visas on the planet, with a worth beneath many different nations. Singapore’s funding visa program, as an illustration, prices almost $8 million, whereas New Zealand’s new program is slightly below $3 million. Even Samoa is costlier, requiring a $1.4 million funding.
“The Gold Card is sort of too low-cost,” mentioned Reaz Jafri of Withers. “You get entry to the U.S. training system, well being care system, banking system and monetary markets, all for $1 million. It is a pittance for a lot of of those households. I feel they need to have stored it at $5 million to make it particular.”
The worldwide rich are prepared to write down the checks. Jafri mentioned he was talking at a household workplace convention in Singapore this week and was approached by three households — two based mostly in China and one based mostly in India — who instantly expressed curiosity in shopping for a Gold Card. He mentioned he expects his agency alone will assist course of “lots of” of purposes as soon as this system is off the bottom and confirmed.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick mentioned the federal government plans to subject 80,000 Gold Playing cards. Along with potential Platinum Card and the brand new H-1B charges, which had been raised to $100,000, he mentioned the packages are anticipated to lift $100 billion in federal income.
The Gold Card nonetheless faces obstacles. Regardless of the announcement on the White Home Friday, there isn’t any approach to apply for the visa but. The web site saying the Gold Card that went dwell in June asks for fundamental info from potential candidates, together with their identify and nation of residence. To date, individuals who registered on the positioning mentioned they have not obtained any updates.
This system can also be more likely to be challenged within the courts and doubtlessly by Congress. As a result of immigration regulation is about by Congress, the president created the Gold Card by way of a number of authorized workarounds, together with utilizing the present EB-1 and EB-2 packages because the infrastructure or foundation for the Gold Card. The $1 million payment is formally labeled an “unrestricted reward” to the federal government fairly than an official payment change.
The tentative authorized standing can also give the abroad rich pause at first, based on immigration attorneys. Many candidates will seemingly wait to see the primary Gold Playing cards awarded and granted earlier than spending the $1 million. And a few could wait even longer.
“These items all the time take somewhat little bit of time to ramp up,” mentioned Dominic Volek group head of personal purchasers at Henley & Companions. “Individuals do not need to be the primary one to attempt it. The vast majority of our purchasers prefer to see this system up and working for 3 to 6 months and see the outcomes earlier than they commit.”
Volek mentioned he is already had numerous inquiries from purchasers and expects this system to draw a minimum of 5,000 to 10,000 purposes a 12 months.
“From a worth level perspective, it is positively extra engaging at $1 million as an alternative of $5 million,” Volek mentioned. “And if it is as fast as they are saying, it turns into much more engaging.”
The Gold Card additionally comes at an opportune second within the world visa market. As geopolitical uncertainty, wars and political tensions rise the world over, the ultra-wealthy are shopping for various citizenships and residencies for a “Plan B” or hedge towards their house nations.
An estimated 142,000 millionaires are anticipated to relocate to a different nation in 2025, based on a report from New World Wealth and Henley & Companions. The U.S. is likely one of the high locations, with 7,500 millionaires anticipated to maneuver to the U.S. this 12 months, rating solely second to the UAE, based on the report. Many of the millionaires coming to America are from Asia, the U.Okay. and Latin America.
Demand for the Gold Card is more likely to come primarily from China and India, based on immigration advisers. But candidates from these nations could also be upset. The EB-1 and EB-2 packages (which type the premise for the Gold Card) have already got massive backlogs from candidates from China and India, stretching for years. If Gold Card patrons are allowed to skip to the entrance of the road due to their $1 million donation, the candidates who’ve been ready might file lawsuits. On the similar time, Gold Card patrons will not be keen to spend $1 million in the event that they’re pressured to attend years for approval.
Dramatically increasing the variety of visas out there by way of the EB-1 and EB-2 packages would additionally seemingly require approval from Congress, advisors mentioned.
“India and China are literally excluded in a approach from the Gold Card,” Volek mentioned. “The EB-1 and EB-2 routes have already got important backlogs for China and India. So rapid entry to the Gold Card could not really work for those who’re born in a kind of two nations.”
The Gold Card additionally has some downsides in contrast with different golden visa packages world wide. The $1 million donation is not refundable, whereas visas in different nations are structured as investments that might generate returns. And in contrast to most different nations, the U.S. taxes its residents and residents on their worldwide earnings, even when it is earned abroad.
The Platinum Card is designed to partially keep away from the taxation subject in change for a better worth. In keeping with the White Home, the Platinum Card would enable holders to stay within the U.S. for 270 days a 12 months with out paying taxes on their abroad earnings. At the moment, abroad nationals are topic to worldwide tax if they’re within the U.S. for 183 days throughout a three-year interval utilizing a posh IRS day-counting components often known as the “substantial presence” take a look at.
Some advisors say the Platinum Card shall be a harder promote than the Gold Card, because it would not result in a inexperienced card or citizenship and has restricted advantages for the ultra-rich who already spend time within the U.S.
“It won’t promote effectively,” mentioned David Lesperance, of Lesperance Associates. “Few will think about it value $5 million simply to spend a further 91 days within the U.S.”
Others say the Gold and Platinum playing cards will attraction to various kinds of abroad wealthy. The Platinum Card could also be interesting to the ultra-wealthy — say, billionaires from Asia or the Center East — who need to be within the U.S. however need to protect their firms and earnings from U.S. taxes. Jafri mentioned he is already obtained inquiries in regards to the Platinum Card from 4 Brazilian household workplaces.
The Gold Card is extra becoming for the little children of the abroad wealthy who need to go to varsity within the U.S. and turn out to be extra aggressive within the U.S. job market after graduating.
“Numerous the children of those abroad billionaires do not need to run the household enterprise and need to be architects or medical doctors or engineers and have common jobs,” Jafri mentioned. “Or perhaps they need to create a startup in America. The Gold Card may be very engaging for that group.”
Given the comparatively low worth of the Gold and Platinum playing cards, Jafri mentioned the White Home ought to think about finally issuing a Black Card.
“They might cost $20 million or $25 million and exempt the patrons from the property tax,” he mentioned. “That will be a game-changer. I wager 1,000 folks would do it and they might deliver all their property to the U.S.”
