By Joey Barnett
In February 2025, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced a new “Trump Gold Card,” providing a potential new visa pathway linked to financial contributions to the United States Treasury with a goal to reduce the national debt. He even linked it to tax benefits even U.S. citizens could not obtain, with further details “two weeks away.”
What was unclear was whether this would be a modification of the existing EB-5 immigrant investor program, a new “investment-type” category under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), or just political messaging.
The Executive Order signed Friday, September 19, 2025 clarifies the speculation and now formally creates the “Gold Card” visa.
What Happened?
President Trump signed The Gold Card Executive Order, in which he declared the Constitution and laws of the United States vested authority in him (notwithstanding Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 of the Constitution or Title 8 of the United States Code) to create a new visa program that “will facilitate the entry of aliens who have demonstrated their ability and desire to advance the interests of the United States by voluntarily providing a significant financial gift to the Nation.” This was followed by a “Fact Sheet,” which included little factual information. The Executive Order’s new visa program will be overseen by the Secretary of Commerce in coordination with the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security.
The stated purpose of the Gold Card program is twofold. First, to attract immigrants who can make a significant financial contribution to the United States, with the expectation that these gifts will be used to strengthen commerce and industry. Second, to bolster the administration’s broader immigration platform by presenting the Gold Card as a counterweight to illegal immigration and as a reform to existing refugee policies. In political framing, it is pitched to reward those who contribute to the U.S. economy, while tightening control elsewhere.
On Saturday September 20, 2025, the Commerce Secretary tweeted more information about the Trump Gold Card:
The Gold Card Program
The defining features of the Gold Card program include the required gift to the U.S. government, as follows:
- An individual must donate $1 million as an unrestricted gift to the Department of Commerce – the “Gold Card”
- If the gift is made by a corporation or similar entity on behalf of an individual, the required amount is $2 million – the “Corporate Gold Card”.
- The U.S. Secretaries of Commerce, State, and Homeland Security are, within 90 days, to “take all necessary and appropriate steps to implement the Gold Card program”
- The State Department and Department of Homeland Security shall consider this gift as evidence of eligibility under the EB-1A visa category, of exceptional business ability and nationality benefit under EB-2, and of eligibility for a national interest waiver under EB-2, for a different individual specified by the corporation.
- Applicants will be able to apply through https://trumpcard.gov/
- A Corporate Gold Card will be issued to a corporate sponsor for one or more of the sponsor’s employees. Corporate sponsors may apply for multiple employees at once. To apply, the corporate sponsor must pay a non-refundable processing fee per employee. A $2 million per employee gift upon completion of the employee’s vetting is evidence that the employee will substantially benefit the United States. It appears a corporate sponsor can cease sponsoring one employee and use the gift contribution tied to the prior application as a basis for sponsoring a new employee without a new $2 million gift, though there is an annual maintenance fee and a transfer fee.
Ties to the Visa Bulletin and EB Categories
The Gold Card Executive Order explicitly links eligibility to the EB-1 and EB-2 categories, particularly under the exceptional ability and national-interest waiver provisions.
This connection is critical and must be viewed in conjunction with the monthly Visa Bulletin, which governs immigrant visa availability. By anchoring the Gold Card to these categories, the administration is effectively cutting out nationals from two of the largest sources of high net worth immigration demand – India and China. These categories are already subject to visa backlogs, unless they are able to “port” to an earlier priority date.
What Don’t We Know
It is unclear whether:
- An applicant’s spouse and minor children would also obtain immigration benefits (This is at odds with the ability of a corporate sponsor to change beneficiaries as it desires).
- While the Executive Order does not create new visa numbers and applicants must fit within the annual caps set forth in 8 U.S.C. § 1151, it’s unclear how these “expedited adjudication of Gold Card petitions, visa issuance, and adjustment of status” will impact wait times for those already stuck in visa backlogs.
- How the secretaries will consider expanding the Gold Card program to EB-5 Visa applicants.
- Whether litigation is likely to be filed before or after the 90 day period specified by the Executive Order will prevent the implementation of the Gold Card program
- How the “Platinum Card,” mentioned on the Trump Card website but not in the Executive Order would work. It indicates that it would allow individual applicants to reside in the United States for up to 270 days per year without being subject to tax on non-U.S. income. This card will require a $5 million dollar gift.
How Trump Card Differs from EB-5
The Gold Card Executive Order lays out a distinct program entirely separate from EB-5, and the difference is significant: while EB-5 is structured as an investment program requiring “at risk” capital investment and job creation in the U.S. to receive the full immigration benefit, it also carries with it the ability to make a profit or loss. Most investors expect to get their money back, and if they invest soundly, this is achievable.
The Gold Card is based on an outright financial gift to the federal government to be used by the Treasury Department “to promote commerce and American industry, consistent with the statutory authorities of the Department of Commerce.” This reframing shifts the program from an economic development incentive to a direct revenue stream for the Department of Commerce, with potential downstream benefits for American industry.
Most importantly, the Gold Card is a non-refundable, one-way transfer to the U.S. federal government, not an EB-5 investment that can be returned or even be profitable.
Applicants must still undergo the rigorous source of funds analysis, similar to EB-5, to confirm that the $1 million (or $2 million) gift comes from lawful means.
In addition, all standard grounds of inadmissibility under the INA apply, and every Gold Card applicant is still subject to national security and public safety vetting. This means individuals barred under prior Trump-era Executive Orders – such as travel bans or national security exclusions – remain ineligible for Gold Card benefits unless those restrictions are lifted. Moreover, it’s not clear whether the gift is refunded if the visa is denied, so this gift appears highly risky until the green card is actually granted.
What’s Next
The Executive Order sets a tight 90-day timeline for implementation. Within three months, the Secretaries of Commerce, State, and Homeland Security must:
- Establish the application framework and expedited adjudication process.
- Begin accepting and processing gifts.
- Set fee schedules to cover expedited processing costs.
- Define and collect maintenance and transfer fees in cases where corporations are sponsoring individuals.
The 90-day requirement is ambitious. The rushed timeline also creates potential for litigation or administrative challenges, especially if critics argue that the program lacks statutory grounding or circumvents congressional authority. This is likely to result in lawsuits could delay, complicate, or bar implementation.
To learn more, please register for our webinar on this and other EB-5 topics here!
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