Source TOI
Washington, D.C. — U.S. President Donald Trump has formally launched the “Trump Gold Card,” a new, expedited residency program that he claims will solve the “shameful” and “ridiculous” problem of forcing highly skilled foreign students, particularly from India and China, to leave the United States after graduating from elite universities.
The Gold Card, which the President described as “much better, much more powerful” than a traditional Green Card, offers a fast-track path to legal status and eventual U.S. citizenship for a substantial fee. The program is positioned as a key tool for American companies to secure and retain top talent.
A New Path for Indian and Chinese Graduates
Speaking at a White House roundtable flanked by top business leaders, including Indian-American CEO Arvind Krishna of IBM, President Trump directly addressed the issue of losing international graduates.
“If you graduate number one in your class—Wharton, Harvard, MIT—you still have to go back to India, China, France, wherever you came from. Very hard to stay. It’s a shame. It’s a ridiculous thing. We’re taking care of that,” the President stated.
He framed the initiative as a “gift” to the country, arguing that it would retain “tremendous people” who would otherwise be “thrown out” despite their high-value education and skills. The new visa is intended to provide certainty for employers who currently face complex and lengthy immigration hurdles when trying to hire top foreign graduates.
The Gold Card Mechanics: A Significant Financial Commitment
The Gold Card program is designed to attract wealthy individuals and corporate sponsors:
Individual Applicants: Must pay a non-refundable $15,000 processing fee and, if approved after rigorous vetting, make a $1 million unrestricted gift (approximately ₹8.4 crore) to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Corporate Sponsors: Companies can sponsor a foreign employee by making a $2 million gift to the U.S. government. A major advantage for corporations is the ability to transfer the gift to sponsor a new employee if the original employee leaves, subject to an annual maintenance and transfer fee.
The program is set to replace the existing EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program, offering a direct route to residency, with card holders gaining a path to citizenship after five years, provided they meet good-conduct criteria. Applications for the card went live on a dedicated government website on Wednesday.
Industry Response
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick praised the program, stating that it would ensure only highly qualified, thoroughly vetted applicants benefit, asserting that the Gold Card would be filled with “the best people.”
The announcement comes amid the Trump administration’s broader push for stricter immigration controls, but the Gold Card provides a mechanism to welcome skilled, high-net-worth individuals, addressing a long-standing complaint from corporate America that the U.S. educates the world’s best and brightest only to force them to take their talent elsewhere.
