President Trump announced that the U.S. will have a new green card program for high net worth people called a “gold card.” Many countries already have this. In countries such as Portugal, Spain and Turkey they are called Golden Visas. In Australia it is the Significant Investor Visa (SIV).
These countries offer residency with some extra tax perks to people who invest heavily in the country through real estate investments or business investments. The program that President Trump suggested would be called a “gold card” and it would require an investment of $5 million in the U.S.
“It’s somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication. It’s a road to citizenship for people, and essentially people of wealth or people of great talent,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
“We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million and that’s going to give you green card privileges-plus,” the president added as he rolled out the plan to a group of journalists. “They’ll be wealthy and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people.”
This may sound elitist but it is not uncommon and you can’t blame a country for trying to encourage growth and income through investment. President Trump said that this program could help to pay down the national debt.
