Washington [US], February 26: US President Donald Trump on February 25 proposed replacing the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program with a so-called 'golden card' that could be purchased for $5 million.
President Trump told reporters that he would replace the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program with a so-called "golden card." "We're going to sell the gold card. We're going to price it at $5 million," Trump told Reuters.
The EB-5 program allows foreign investors with large sums of money to create or maintain jobs in the United States to become permanent residents. The program grants "green cards" to foreigners who promise to invest in American businesses.
President Trump stressed that by purchasing a "golden card," buyers would gain the privileges of a green card holder and that it would be a path to US citizenship, arguing that "wealthy people will come to America by buying this card." He added that more details about the new program would be announced in two weeks.
Mr Trump added that it was possible that Russian oligarchs could qualify for a gold card, when asked by a reporter if they would. "It's possible. Look, I know some Russian oligarchs who are very good people," Mr Trump said.
"The EB-5 program... is rife with nonsense and fabrication and fraud, and it's a way to get a green card for a low price. So the president has said, instead of having this ridiculous EB-5 program, we're going to terminate the EB-5 program. We're going to replace it with the Trump gold card," US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters on February 25.
The EB-5 program, administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), was created by Congress in 1990 to "stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors," according to the USCIS website.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
