New Trump plan for rich migrants: $5m Gold Card

President Donald Trump unveiled a new immigration policy on Tuesday where any foreign individual can pay five million dollars, obtain a Gold Card, akin to a Green Card, and become a permanent resident of America.

- Prashant Jha

The Gold Card will also create a pathway for citizenship of the United States.

The new Gold Card will replace the EB-5 visa that allowed those foreign individuals who invested a little over a million dollars in general, or $800,000 in targeted employment areas, and created ten jobs to acquire residency in America. The EB-5 visa was created by the US Congress in 1990 to spur foreign investment.

The move is one more step in Trump's radical overhaul of American citizenship and immigration policies that have affected foreign nationals in general, but Indians in particular given the deep people to people relationship that exists between the two countries, the high numbers of Indian nationals in the US seeking residency and citizenship, and Indians aspiring to enter the US, both legally and illegally. Tuesday's move will affect high-net worth individuals, leaving only the ultra-wealthy with the room to invest and acquire US residency.