Trump Gold-Card Visa Called Addition, Not Alternative, to EB-5

President Donald Trump’s proposal for a new “Gold Card” for wealthy immigrants was initially offered as a replacement for an established investor visa program backed by lawmakers from both parties.

The next day, he and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick signaled that their $5 million visa buy-in would accompany an overhaul to the existing EB-5 investor visa programs.

Members of the investor visa industry taken by surprise by the Gold Card announcement say both options can operate in parallel.

“There is precedent for that,” said Rohit Kapuria, a partner at Saul Ewing LLP and vice chair of the firm’s global immigration and foreign investment practice. “We can accomplish both goals.”

In Oval Office remarks on Feb. 25, Trump outlined a plan to allow wealthy immigrants to fork over $5 million for permanent residency starting in two weeks, and mused incorrectly that he wouldn’t need Congress to do so because citizenship wouldn’t automatically be granted. Lutnick, who joined the announcement, said the “Gold Card” plan would replace the EB-5 program, which he called “full of nonsense, make believe and fraud.”

That was a shock to attorneys and investors still navigating the recent relaunch of an EB-5 option that allows investor funds to be pooled in agencies, dubbed regional centers, that account for most of the funding in the program. But in comments at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Lutnick said the administration wanted to modify the program, which only two years ago was overhauled by Congress to add new safeguards.

A 2022 reauthorization hiked minimum investments to $1.05 million or $800,000 in targeted low-income areas.

The $5 million investment for the Gold Card would be out of the price range of many participants in the EB-5 program, among them H-1B and student visa holders from India and China who otherwise would wait decades for green cards. Prospective users of the Gold Card by contrast would likely be ultra wealthy immigrants who haven’t pursued US permanent residency because of tax implications. Trump said his proposal would make worldwide income for those individuals tax exempt.

“High net worth individuals tend to come here off and on,” said Laura Foote Reiff, an attorney at Greenberg Traurig LLP. “They don’t want to become tax residents of the United States.”

Congressional Action

Immigrating to the US has long been an option for people with enough saved to make the qualifying investments in American businesses. Congress established the EB-5 program in 1990 and a regional center pilot program two years later. Interest in raising capital from the program spiked after the 2008 financial crisis when capital for projects like real estate development dried up in the US.

The regional center program, which requires period reauthorization, was temporarily frozen for nearly a year beginning in 2021 with lawmakers at odds on safeguards against potential fraud. They eventually agreed to new vetting measures for businesses and higher minimum investment thresholds in legislation that extended the program through 2027.

“The idea that the program could be ended or somehow amended before that came as a big surprise to practically everyone,” said Matthew Galati, principal attorney at The Galati Law Firm. “The devil is in the details and we don’t have any yet.”

The EB-5 program has brought in more than $6.1 billion since that restart, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services data.

Both updating the EB-5 and creating a new visa option would require Congress to pass new legislation including an update to an annual cap on employment-based green cards—a tall task in most circumstances. Replacing that program would also mean scrapping new incentives for rural investments in the reauthorization law prioritized by key lawmakers like Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). A Grassley spokesman said he’ll review details on the proposal when it’s released by the White House.

Job Creation

Reiff of Greenberg Traurig said attorneys are looking for details on the Trump plan, which created anxiety in investor industry. That’s especially true for regional centers currently raising funds, she said.

“There’s a lot of scratching of the head happening right now,” Reiff said. “How are we going to do this? What does this mean for the existing program?”

In comments to reporters this week, Trump pitched the Gold Card program as a tool for deficit reduction, rather than investments to spur job creation—an explicit requirement of the EB-5 program. But he promised investors would also “be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people.” And Lutnick added that investors would go through vetting to make sure they’re “world class global citizens.”

The EB-5 program already does “all of those things and more,” said Saul Ewing’s Kapuria.

“The program has been extremely successful,” he said.