Topline
Only one person has been approved for a Trump “Gold Card” visa, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told lawmakers Thursday about the $1 million pay-for-play residency program—despite saying previously the government had already sold more than $1 billion worth of Gold Card visas.
Key Facts
Lutnick said the Department of Homeland Security has “approved recently one person, and there are hundreds in the queue,” he told the House Appropriations Committee while testifying about his agency’s fiscal year 2027 budget request.
Lutnick said in December the administration had “sold” $1.3 billion in Gold Card visas in just a few days during a press conference alongside Trump to promote the cards.
Lutnick suggested Thursday there is a lag because the program is new, telling lawmakers, “the process was recently resolved with DHS, who runs the program, and they do . . . the most serious vetting and analysis of any potential applicant in the history of government.”
The Trump administration began accepting applications in December for the program, which requires applicants to pay a $15,000 application fee and a $1 million gift to the Commerce Department in exchange for an expedited pathway to resident legal status in the U.S.
Employers can also sponsor one or more employees via the “Trump Corporate Gold Card” program that requires the $15,000 processing fee and $2 million gift, plus annual maintenance and transfer fees.
What We Don’t Know
The recipient of the Gold Card. Jeffrey Chao, the Chinese founder of the California-based ethernet cabling technology company, TP-Link Systems Inc., applied for the program, Bloomberg reported in March, citing unnamed sources. The Commerce Department is investigating the company for national security concerns related to its Chinese ties, according to Bloomberg. (Forbes has reached out to TP-Link.)
Key Background
The Trump Gold Card program, created via executive order in September, awards EB-1 or EB-2 visas to approved applicants. EB-1s are reserved for immigrants with “extraordinary ability” and EB-2s for those with “exceptional ability,” according to the law, and are capped annually at a certain percentage of all visas. The program is facing multiple lawsuits. A group of immigrants sued the Trump administration in February, asking a judge to block the program and arguing the program prioritizes “wealth over intellect or ability,” The New York Times reported. A group of government watchdog groups also sued earlier this month to force the government to release records related to the program, accusing the federal government of handling the visas like “million-dollar Mar-a-Lago memberships,” Kevin Bell, co-founder of Free Information Group, which is among the plaintiffs, said in a press release.
Further Reading
Trump ‘Gold Card’ Program Opens Applications For Million-Dollar Visas (Forbes)
