US President Donald Trump is planning to make it easier for rich immigrants to get American citizenship via so-called “gold cards” that could be bought for $5 million. The American President said these “gold cards” would convey green-card residency status and a path to American citizenship to foreigners and predicted that one million cards would be sold.

According to Mr Trump, the initiative could quickly pay down the national debt. He told reporters he will replace the “EB-5” immigrant investor visa program, which allows foreign investors of large sums of money that create or preserve US jobs to become permanent residents, with a “gold card.”

The EB-5 program grants “green cards” to foreigners promising to invest in US businesses.

“We are going to be selling a gold card…We are going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million,” Mr Trump said. 

“It’s going to give you green card privileges plus it’s going to be a route to (American) citizenship, and wealthy people would be coming into our country by buying this card,” he added.

President said that more details about the scheme would come out in two weeks. When asked by a journalist if Russians would be eligible for the scheme, he said it is possible Russian oligarchs could qualify. “Yeah, possibly. Hey. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people,” he said.

About EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, was created by Congress in 1990 to “stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors,” according to the USCIS website.

“The EB-5 program … it was full of nonsense, make-believe and fraud, and it was a way to get a green card that was low price. So the president said, rather than having this sort of ridiculous EB-5 program, we’re going to end the EB-5 program. We’re going to replace it with the Trump gold card,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters on Tuesday.