The card featuring Trump's own face was unveiled as US stock markets lost $3.1 trillion in value.
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Donald Trump Reveals $5m Visa Gold Card With His Face On
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Donald Trump Reveals $5m Visa Gold Card With His Face On It
By
Billal Rahman
Live News Reporter
Newsweek Is A Trust Project Member
President
Donald Trump has unveiled his $5 million 'gold card' visa, featuring his own likeness.
"For $5 million, this could be yours," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. "You know what that card is? It's the Gold Card, the Trump Card," Trump said Thursday.
Why It Matters
Trump's
proposed "gold card" program would offer U.S. residency to individuals who invest $5 million in the country.
This announcement comes as part
U.S. stock futures plummeted Wednesday evening after Trump announced plans to impose a minimum 10% "baseline" tariff on all imports.
He also targeted around 60 countries for "discounted reciprocal tariffs," citing what he views as unfair trade practices.
US President Donald Trump holds the $5 million dollar Gold Card as he speaks to reporters while in flight on board Air Force One, en route to Miami, Florida on April 3, 2025.Mandel Ngan/Getty
What To Know
"Who is the first buyer?" a reporter asked.
"Me," Trump replied.
"The second?" the reporter added.
Read more
Visa
"I don't know, but I'm the first buyer. It'll be out in ... less than two weeks. Pretty exciting, right?" the president responded.
"Anybody want to buy one?" Trump asked the room.
Late last month, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced the "sale of 1,000 Gold Cards this week, raising $5 billion in a single day."
Lutnick also claimed the
"Gold Card" visa program already has 250,000 applicants. However, applications on the UCIS website do not appear to have been launched.
Trump's
proposed "Gold Card" program would grant U.S. residency to individuals investing $5 million in American businesses, replacing the existing EB-5 visa. Announced as part of a broader immigration system overhaul, the initiative signals the president's focus on investment-driven immigration. Supporters argue it could bring significant capital into the U.S., while critics contend that the priority should be attracting skilled talent instead.
The "Gold Card" is part of a wider effort to replace the current EB-5 immigrant investor visa with the new program, granting U.S. citizenship to foreign investors in American businesses.
Under the existing EB-5 program, applicants must pay between $100,000 and $200,000 in fees to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), invest between $800,000 and $1 million, and create at least 10 jobs for American workers.
Calling the Gold Card a "green card plus," Trump suggested it would offer more benefits than standard permanent residency. However, critics argue that the policy prioritizes wealth over skills or merit and fails to address broader economic concerns—especially as the administration continues efforts to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
Unlike American citizens, Gold Card holders are exempt from paying U.S. taxes on their overseas income.
The announcement comes as global markets go through a tailspin due to the fallout from the president's new tariffs.
A reporter asked Trump for his thoughts on the situation as U.S. markets continued to tumble following his tariff announcement on Wednesday.
"I think it's going very well," Trump replied. "It was an operation, like when a patient gets operated on and it's a big thing. I said this would exactly be the way it is. We have six or seven trillion dollars coming into our country and we've never seen anything like it."
He added: "The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country's going to boom. And the rest of the world wants to see, is there any way they can make a deal. They've taken advantage of us for many, many years. And many years we've been at the wrong side of the ball and I'll tell you what, I think it's going to be unbelievable."
Experts told
Newsweek that Trump's proposed "Gold Card" program faces major legal and legislative hurdles, making its implementation highly unlikely.
What People Are Saying
David Lesperance, Managing Partner at Lesperance & Associates told Newsweek: "The promoted feature of the "Trump Card" is that the holders will magically only be subject to US territorial taxation. To actually make this happen would require a change to the definition of being a US person for Tax Purposes in the Internal Revenue Code. There would need to be a new category that outlines how Gold Card holders' tax obligations are completely different from the worldwide tax obligations of Citizens, Green Card Holders, and those who trigger the Substantial Presence Test."
"Not only is it impossible to make such a significant legislative change by Executive Order, it is almost guaranteed that there will never be a sufficient number of votes in both houses to make such a change."
Donald Trump said in the Oval Office: "It's going to be a route to citizenship, and wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card. They will be wealthy, they will be successful, they will be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes."
Republican Senator John Cornyn told Semafor: "We're trying to come up with some legislation that would make that happen."
"It is sort of the ultimate merit-based immigration. And if we continue to attract the smartest, most accomplished people from around the world to America, that's good for all of us."
Congressman Ro Khanna previously told Newsweek in a statement: "You don't need to have $5 million in your bank account to build a successful company in America. Just look at Sergey Brin, Sundar Pichai, or Satya Nadella.
"We should welcome talented workers to America who will bring their creativity and productivity while also reforming the H1-B program to prevent abuses."
Killing Presidents runs in Cruz's family, Donny better watch his back.
