By Abby Schultz

President Donald Trump said his plan to grant wealthy individuals permanent residency in the U.S. for the price of a $5 million " gold card" could help pay down the national debt.

"If we sell a million, that's $5 trillion dollars," Trump said at the first meeting of his second-term cabinet on Wednesday, according to the news account by the Associated Press.

In addition to wealthy non-U. S. citizens being able to buy the gold cards, companies can buy them too, "and, in exchange, get those visas to hire new employees," he said.

Trump's gold card is intended to replace a 35-year-old program that allows individuals to invest in the U.S. in exchange for a green card. The EB-5 program, as it is known, has been revised over the years. It now is available for people who invest $800,000 in a rural region, or an area with high unemployment, or who invest nearly $1.1 million in a wealthier part of the country.

"It's a very creative idea and potentially a very good thing," Reaz Jafri, an immigration lawyer at the international law firm Withers in New York, said of the gold card. "I've already received three calls asking when is this happening, because [the callers] will write a check."

But he doesn't know whether enthusiasm for the program will be "significant enough to make a dent in the national debt." Jafri told Barron's.

Armand Arton, CEO of Arton Capital, a firm specializing in residency and citizenship by investment, called the gold card a "fantastic initiative, " but said its true value will depend on how the U.S. uses the money and on the requirements placed on applicants.

On Wednesday, Trump said the vetting process is still being worked out, but the U.S. likely won't restrict gold-card immigration from certain countries, such as China or Iran, although it could place restrictions on individuals, the AP reported.

"We think the claim that this could draw in one million or 10 million applicants is not based in reality," Arton said. In part, that is because of the potential tax burden on ultrawealthy investors, who may risk having their worldwide wealth taxed by the U.S.

Jafri, who has helped more than 50 clients over the years apply for green cards through the EB-5 program -- all in targeted economic areas -- said he hopes the gold card will be rolled out in a way that treats the "thousands and thousands" of investors in the process of filing EB-5 cases fairly. Ideally, the new initiative will be structured to run concurrently with the EB-5 program until it sunsets in 2027, he said.

Currently, many of Jafri's clients are on U.S. student visas that are expiring and have parents who are willing to invest $800,000 to secure their children a green card. The students are the children of doctors, bankers, and lawyers -- wealthy individuals, but not billionaires -- who wouldn't be able to part with $5 million, he said.

The EB-5 program works by pooling cash from several investors into a so-called regional center, where the cash is lent at a below-market rate to a real estate developer, for example. Each EB-5 applicant must be credited with generating 10 direct or indirect jobs through their investment to qualify for a green card. The investors typically get their money back within about five years, Jafri said.

Projects funded with EB-5 dollars in New York City include the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and several buildings in Hudson Yards.

"It's a wonderful program," Jafri said. All of those who he has worked with "have gotten green cards and gotten their money back."

Arton is less enthusiastic about the EB-5 program, and believes Trump's gold card will rival existing residency and citizenship programs in Europe and elsewhere. The initiative "presents a clear opportunity to reverse the trend toward negative outflow of wealth and HNW [high-net-worth] talent from the United States," he said in a statement.

"This move could give the government a much tighter control over the selection process and foster a fast-track lane for ultrahigh net worth newcomers, which it will no doubt see as a priority given the competition for wealthy investors coming from the likes of China, Europe, and the Gulf states," he said.

According to Arton, the EB-5 program "has historically drawn applicants with a much lower net worth, which we estimate at a ratio of about 5:1, than those Americans investing abroad or leaving the U.S. entirely."

Write to Abby Schultz at abby.schultz@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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February 26, 2025 16:46 ET (21:46 GMT)

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