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Remember Donald Trump‘s announcement of ‘Gold Card’ visas, the ones he said was a “route to citizenship” for “very high-level people”? It seems like the idea is finally taking shape. An article by New York Times suggests that Trump’s close aid and tech billionaire Elon Musk’s team, is now trying to help the US government in generating revenue by building a system that sells these “special immigration visas”, also known as “gold cards”, which Trump administration had earlier said would cost $5 million each.
Quoting some people familiar with the matter, the New York Times article said that some engineers from Musk’s team have been working with the officials from the US State Department, Homeland Security, and US Citizenship and Immigration Services to build a website and system to apply for these visas.
It is worth noting that the project marks a new direction for Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is a step away from cutting costs and a step towards generating revenue. Back in February, Trump introduced the Gold Card idea as a way for “very high-level people” to gain US citizenship.
US President Donald Trump and his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, didn’t share many details at the time about who exactly can qualify for these visas. However, they did reveal that these would replace the EB-5 visa. The EB-5 allowed foreign nationals to get green cards if they invested $800,000 to $1.05 million in US businesses and created at least 10 jobs. That program brought in around $4 billion for the US government last year, the NY Times reported.
Who is leading Trump’s Gold Card project?
The gold card project is being led from Elon Musk’s DOGE team by Marko Elez and Edward Coristine, the NY Times said. The article further added that they have been working on it since at least last month. The duo has also met with officials from different government agencies to learn which parts of the current visa system can be used in the new one.
NY Times said that when the State Departments was reached out for comments, they directed all questions to the White House. However, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond.
When will Gold Cards be ready for use?
Commerce secretary, Lutnick had explained in a podcast last month that the gold card would make someone a permanent resident of the United States, similar to what the green card did in the past. He suggested that most people with gold cards probably wouldn’t even become US citizens. He also said that in exchange for paying $5 million, these individuals would have the right to live in the US as long as they are “good people,vetted, and don’t break the law”.
He had revealed then that Musk was building a software for this Gold Card programme to be implemented and that it would be unveiled in two weeks time. However, last week, Lutnick said that the God Cards would be ready “within a week and a half.”
The NY Times article says that the engineers from Musk’s team are still figuring out how to design the gold card system so it doesn’t have to follow the usual visa process, which often takes years. They are mainly working on speeding up the background checks and interviews, with a goal of giving residency to wealthy applicants within just two weeks of applying.
Source: https://www.financialexpress.com/business/investing-abroad-musks-team-of-engineers-are-building-a-system-for-trumps-5-million-gold-card-visas-3812092/
