President Donald Trump said he is starting a program to offer residency and a path to citizenship to investors who pay $5 million, offering a new avenue for legal immigration even as he carries out a sweeping crackdown on undocumented migrants.

President Donald Trump said he is starting a program which would offer residency and a path to citizenship for investors who commit at least $5 million to projects in the US.

Trump said the program, dubbed the “gold card,” would launch in two weeks, adding that he did not believe his administration needed to secure approval from Congress.

“We’re going to be selling a gold card,” Trump said Tuesday in the Oval Office as he signed executive orders alongside Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

“We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million, and that’s going to give you green card privileges,” he added, referencing the permits currently issued to US permanent residents.

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  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
    26·
    18 hours ago

    Trump’s just making the subtext into text. This was already how the immigration system in the US worked. Large investments private, professional degrees, friendly relations with diplomats, and back door campaign contributions have been fast tracks to citizenship for decades.

    All Trump is proposing is formalization of the process (at an absurd markup - you could easily get a fast track citizenship for closer to $50k than $5M).

    And given the declining state of the nation, I’m not even clear who he’d be selling this to. Anyone rich enough to afford a “gold card” has no real interest in leaving their own country.