Trump Gold Card Is Unlawful Pay-to-Play Scheme, Suit Says (1)

The Trump administration’s gold card program allowing ultra wealthy immigrants to obtain permanent residency in the US with a $1 million payment is unlawful, a university faculty group argues in a new lawsuit.

The program violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act, and was enacted without statutory authority, the American Association of University Professors argued in a complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

“The Gold Card, which privileges wealthy immigrants over others, is part of a larger attack on immigrants, research, and higher education,” Todd Wolfson, AAUP’s president, said in a statement. “This unlawful program directly harms our members and the public. We stand firmly against it.”

The departments of Commerce, State and Homeland Security launched the visa option in December, nearly a year after President Donald Trump unveiled plans in the Oval Office for a new avenue for legal immigration. Rather than proposing another visa category, an executive order directed the agencies to use existing EB-1 “extraordinary ability” and EB-2 “exceptional ability” green card categories for employment-based immigration. The latter category allows applicants to apply for a visa without an employer sponsor.

The program treats a $1 million payment by an individual—or $2 million by a corporation on their behalf—as evidence they meet criteria for the visa categories. By redefining eligibility for the visas, the Trump administration upended longstanding immigration law and exceeded its authority, AAUP’s lawsuit argued.

It also disadvantages engineers, physicians, researchers, and other accomplished professionals that the INA dictates should receive the visas and who would benefit the US, the suit says. Individual plaintiffs joining AAUP in the suit include a biomedical researcher from Colombia seeking an EB-1 visa, a psychologist from Mexico applying for an EB-2 visa, and a cancer and immunotherapy researcher from Taiwan filing for an EB-2 visa with a national interest waiver.

Because availability of those green cards is limited, prioritizing gold card applicants will increase wait times, prolonging the plaintiffs’ reliance on temporary status, extending employment instability, and disrupting research, the lawsuit argues.

“In a system where demand for EB-1 and EB-2 visas exceeds annual supply, a paid fast lane that consumes visas and agency processing capacity necessarily pushes back qualified applicants who will have to wait longer for their applications to be considered and may ultimately not be awarded a visa,” according to the complaint.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare the gold card unlawful and halt its continued operation.

Plaintiffs are represented by Democracy Defenders Fund, Public Citizen Litigation Group, and Colombo Hurd PL.

The case is Am. Ass’n of Univ. Professors v. Dept of Homeland Security, D.D.C., No. 1:26-cv-00300, complaint filed 2/3/26.