Indian-origin visa professional claims Indian center class cannot even afford Trump’s ‘gold card’
Donald Trump has introduced the introduction of a brand new ‘gold card’ program, permitting rich immigrants to buy a pathway to US citizenship for $5 million. The initiative is ready to exchange the prevailing EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which has been a staple of employment-based immigration since 1990.
“We’re going to be promoting a gold card,” Trump mentioned as he signed government orders alongside Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick within the Oval Workplace on Tuesday. “We’re going to be placing a value on that card of about $5 million.”
“It’ll offer you inexperienced card privileges, plus it should be a path to (American) citizenship, and rich folks could be coming into our nation by shopping for this card.”
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The president defined that the Gold Card would grant immigrants inexperienced card privileges whereas serving as a direct path to American citizenship. “The folks that may pay $5 million, they are going to create jobs,” Trump emphasised. “It’ll promote like loopy. It is a discount.”
The sharp improve in funding necessities has raised issues amongst Indian immigrants, lots of whom have been caught within the Inexperienced Card backlog because of the per-country visa cap.
How will the Gold Card have an effect on Indian immigrants?
“The Gold Card introduced by President Trump for $5 million is meant to exchange the EB-5 program. The funding quantity drastically will increase from $800k to $1.05 million to $5 million,” Rahul Menon, an Indian-origin visa podcaster, advised Hindustan Instances.
“It was a steep quantity for Indian visa holders to start with, and now will likely be subsequent to not possible for almost all of the oldsters caught within the Inexperienced Card backlog.”
Menon additionally identified that such a drastic coverage change would possible require Congressional approval. “From a authorized standpoint, this should be handed by Congress just like the EB 5 reform invoice that was handed in 2022 by the Biden administration, the place they elevated funding quantities to $800k/1.05 million,” he mentioned.
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How does the Gold Card evaluate to the EB-5 program?
Beneath the prevailing system, immigrants might safe a inexperienced card by investing $800,000 to $1.05 million, relying on whether or not the funding was in a high-unemployment or rural space. The Biden administration had elevated these funding thresholds as a part of the 2022 EB-5 Reform Invoice.
With Trump’s proposed shift, the required funding jumps drastically to $5 million, making it tougher for middle-income buyers, notably from nations like India, to qualify.
