Trump’s Gold Card visa, supposed to raise $1 trillion, given to only one person
United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump’s Gold Card visa program priced at a whopping $1 million was supposed to raise over $1 trillion; however, it has been granted to only one person in the last year.
Trump announced the new visa program last year for people who wanted to fast track their immigration to the U.S., the president, at that time, described it as “the green card of steroids.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick declared the government had sold $1.3 billion worth of them within days of launch. There was talk of raising a trillion dollars, balancing the budget, attracting the world’s wealthiest talent to American shores.
However, all the claims were debunked by Lutnick himself during his hearing before a congressional committee on Thursday. He told the committee that since the programme launched in December, exactly one person has been approved.
However, he added that there are hundreds of applicants waiting to be approved for the program, adding, the administration had wanted to make sure they did everything perfectly before approving anyone.
Lutnick failed to clarify his claim of $1.3 billion in sales from the program while one applicant has been approved so far.
When pressed by a congresswoman about how the government was spending the application fee, Lutnick replied, “That will be determined by the administration, for the betterment of the United States of America.”
How does the Gold Card work?
A foreign national pays at least one million dollars, plus a $15,000 application fee on top of that, in exchange for the right to legally live and work in the United States.
The concept itself is not new as dozens of countries around the world, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Australia and Canada, offer some version of a golden visa to wealthy investors.
