What is the $5 million gold card that President Trump proposes?

Migration law experts say they have uncertainty about President Donald Trump's announcement that the United States will start providing a golden card that costs $5m, for those wealthy foreign citizens who would like to live and work in the US.

They would be guaranteed all “a safe way towards American citizenship”.

During their comments Tuesday at the ovole office, President Trump and Trade Secretary Howard Lutnick said the programme will begin in two weeks and replace the EB-5 visa programme, which enables foreign investors to live and work in the US if they invest in companies that create jobs for Americans.

But the EP-5 visa programme was created with a decision by Congress in 1990 and it is unclear whether President Trump has the power to remove it, creating a new visa programme without the Capitol decision.

We've prepared everything legally. It is perfectly legal to become”, President Trump said.

Legal Questions

Migration experts do not fully agree.

The truth is that Congress will have to approve of this”, said Michael Wildes, an immigration law expert from New York.

Mr. Wildes, who has represented the First Lady Melanie Trump and members of her family on issues related to immigration, said that because of this little information available about the programme, it is difficult to assess how much impact it is likely to have.

It will treat people who have much better money than others”, Mr. Wildes said of the Voice of America. “This is in accordance with his label”.

If the administration is proposing to redefine the terms of the EB-5 programme, this is openly illegal”, American Voice Jorge Lowere, managing director of Programmes and Strategy at the American Migration Council, told the Voice of America.

The parameters of that programme are drawn up by our legislative branch. The president cannot rewrite them at will”, he adds.

David J. Bier, director of immigration studies at the Institute éatoCatoı, wrote in the social media that the “sharing of green cards is a good thing in theory, but Trump's specific proposal has some problems”. One of them is that Vice President Trump cannot eliminate investor programme EB-5 that was drafted under the decision of Congress”.

The White House did not respond to a request for a comment from the Voice of America.

White House Notification

President Trump presented his plan to a group of journalists at the ovale office on Tuesday.

“We will sell a gold card”, President Trump said. We're going to put her at a price of about $5 million, and this will also provide them with the privileges of green card. It will be a way to citizenship and rich people will come to our country after buying this” card.

President Trump said that in addition to wealthy foreigners who want to live in the United States, he believes American corporations will be willing to buy these cards in order to employ talented people from abroad.

“The companies will pay for people to come and have long-term status in the country”, he said.

Currently, there are several roads available for foreigners who want to work in the US. The H1-B visa programme allows thousands of qualified workers to come to the US every year. In addition, there are several visa programmes allowing the directors of international companies to live and work in the United States if they are transferred to an office or subsidiary of the US company.

EB-5 visa application

Trade Secretary Lutnick said on Tuesday that the administration plans to interrupt the existing EB-5 visa programme, which he named “filled with madness, fraud and manipulation”.

The EB-5 programme provides green card status for foreigners who invest $1,05,000 in companies that create at least 10 jobs. The amount could be reduced to 800,000 dollars if investment is made in certain infrastructure sectors or in those areas of the country, which the government intends to develop economically.

In his comments, Mr. Lutnick appeared to suggest that $5 million for a golden card would not be used for the creation of new jobs but would go directly to the federal government's ark.

“We can use the money to lower the” deficit, he said.

The High Price

Shereen Chen, an immigration lawyer from New Jersey, told the Voice of America that for many wealthy foreigners hoping to come to the United States, new rules can complicate the process.

The current regulations include a “strict verification program” to ensure that the money invested under the EB-5 programme is legally earned, Mrs. Chen said. The process is long and difficult, and more complicated said Mrs. Chen, if the amount of money verified increases by fivefold.

The new programme would have enormous implications for Chinese citizens hoping to come to the US. While many Chinese have used the EB5 programme, the strongest monetary controls in China have made it increasingly difficult.

For now, it's very difficult for Chinese citizens to use the EB-5 programme, even with $1,550,000, because it's very difficult for them to get money out of China”, Mrs. Chen said.

Common Practice

The United States is not the only ones implementing programs that enable wealthy foreigners to exchange their investment for the privilege of staying in one country.

Henley & Partners, a London-based consultancy company that advises clients who require residence and citizenship opportunities in other countries, is engaged in more than 100 countries of the world, offering investment programmes in exchange for permanent residence.

About 30 countries offer citizenship in exchange for investment, an agreement commonly known as “gold passport”.

In recent years, the European Union has been pressing member states with such programmes to eliminate them because of concerns related to illegal activities, such as tax evasion and money laundering. VOA