President Donald Trump’s controversial “Gold Card” visa program—offering wealthy foreigners a new path to U.S. citizenship—is set to launch online in a matter of weeks, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Speaking at Axios’ “Building the Future” event Wednesday, Lutnick said the website trumpcard.gov will go live shortly, enabling anyone in the world with $5 million to begin the application process. The card, first teased in March, is being marketed as “a green card—but better,” offering top-tier applicants an express path to U.S. residency, and potentially citizenship, for a hefty price.
“The details of that will come soon after, but people can start to register,” Lutnick said. “And all that will come over a matter of the next weeks — not month, weeks.”
At a recent dinner in the Middle East, Lutnick said he was already fielding interest. “Basically everyone I meet who’s not an American is going to want to buy the card if they have the fiscal capacity,” he told Axios.
President Trump, who revealed the Gold Card himself on Air Force One last month, has touted the program as a way to attract “the most successful job-creating people from all over the world.” Unlike traditional immigration programs that often prioritize humanitarian or family ties, the Gold Card’s main qualifier is financial: bring $5 million and you’re in.
While Lutnick emphasized that everyone will be vetted before receiving a card, he said this kind of immigrant is precisely the kind of person the country needs. “They’re going to come and bring businesses and opportunity to America. And they’re going to pay $5 million.”
The math is eye-popping. If just 200,000 applicants successfully purchase the Gold Card, that’s $1 trillion raised, Lutnick claimed. “Remember, we get 280,000 visas per year now for free,” he said. “Not counting the 20 million people who broke into this country for nothing under Biden. So I want you to think about that.”
According to Trump officials, that $1 trillion could go toward paying down national debt, rebuilding infrastructure, or funding tax relief for Americans. But critics aren’t sold.
Lora Ries of the Heritage Foundation warned the Gold Card could become a magnet for fraud. “Any immigration benefit draws fraud. People are willing to do anything and say just about anything to come to the U.S.,” she said.
Ries also raised national security concerns, noting that money alone isn’t always a good filter. “You don’t just get a pass because you’re rich.”
The Trump administration insists the screening process will be airtight. In a February interview, Lutnick told Bret Baier on Fox News that all applicants would be “deeply vetted,” and only those with clean backgrounds and entrepreneurial track records would be approved.
“These are going to be great global citizens who bring entrepreneurial spirit, capacity, and growth to America,” he said.
Supporters say it’s a win-win: the U.S. gets jobs, tax revenue, and fresh investment, while wealthy foreigners get security and a stake in the American dream. But the political optics are complex. Trump is simultaneously cracking down on illegal immigration—slashing border crossings by over 90% since January—while selling what some critics call a “citizenship-for-cash” scheme to foreign elites.
That tension hasn’t gone unnoticed. But Trump, as always, is unapologetic. “We give it away for free, and now we’ll make a trillion dollars,” he told reporters. “It makes perfect sense to me.”
Whether the Gold Card becomes a diplomatic windfall or a bureaucratic nightmare remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: it’s another massive swing from a president unafraid to rewrite the rulebook.
