{"id":186671,"date":"2025-12-11T21:18:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T21:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/186671\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T21:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T21:18:07","slug":"trump-launches-1m-gold-card-visa-scheme-amid-immigration-crackdown-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/186671\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump launches $1m \u2018gold card\u2019 visa scheme amid immigration crackdown \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

US president Donald Trump<\/a> has launched a new programme that will allow wealthy foreign individuals to buy a US<\/a> \u201cgolden visa\u201d for $1 million (\u20ac851,000), and trailed a \u201cplatinum\u201d version for $5 million (\u20ac4.25 million).<\/p>\n

\u201cA direct path to Citizenship for all qualified and vetted people. SO EXCITING! Our Great American Companies can finally keep their invaluable Talent,\u201d Trump wrote on Wednesday on social media.<\/p>\n

An official US government webpage promises US residency \u201cin record time\u201d with the new \u201cTrump Gold Card\u201d \u2013 once applicants have paid a $15,000 (\u20ac12,770) processing fee to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), passed a background check and paid $1 million.<\/p>\n

Per a September executive order, individuals are required to pay $1 million, while businesses sponsoring employees are required to pay $2 million. Firms are then required to pay a 1 per cent annual maintenance fee of $20,000, and a 5 per cent transfer fee of $100,000 each time they want to switch the visa from one employee to another.<\/p>\n

The programme comes as the Trump administration devotes significant resources to deporting millions of undocumented immigrants. The gold card program has already faced heavy criticism by seemingly contradicting the US\u2019s traditional reputation as a refuge for the hard-working poor.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe \u2018Trump Gold Card\u2019 on display in the Oval Office at the White House. Photograph: Demetrius Freeman\/Washington Post\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

A \u201cTrump Platinum Card\u201d is also \u201ccoming soon\u201d, according to the official website. This card will allow holders to spend up to 270 days in the US without being subject to US taxes on non-US income. It will cost $5 million.<\/p>\n

According to Trump, proceeds from the new programme will go to \u201can account where we can do things positive for the country\u201d and that it will generate \u201cmany billions of dollars\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump signed an executive order in September announcing the official launch of the gold card. When the programme was first reported in February, the price for a visa was $5 million. <\/p>\n

The discounted price tag may give the card a competitive edge compared with similar \u201cpay to jump the line\u201d programmes in other countries. For example, New Zealand\u2019s new golden visa programme costs nearly $3 million, but managed to attract strong interest from wealthy Americans following Trump\u2019s re-election.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0US plans to start checking tourists\u2019 social media over last five yearsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, we\u2019re having people come in, people that, in many cases, I guess, are very successful or whatever,\u201d the president said back in September. \u201cThey\u2019re going to spend a lot of money to come in. They\u2019re going to pay, as opposed to walking over the borders.\u201d<\/p>\n

DHS secretary Kristi Noem praised the programme on X, saying, \u201cunder this historic initiative, qualified individuals and corporations, who contribute $1 million and $2 million respectively, will receive expedited EB-1 or EB-2 green cards following rigorous vetting\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US president Donald Trump has launched a new programme that will allow wealthy foreign individuals to buy a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,43,40,38,41,39,90],"class_list":{"0":"post-186671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories","15":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}