IT is always entertaining to watch President Trump's interactions with the Press. He has his pet grievances and airs them repeatedly but he does not shy away from taking questions. The answers may, of course, veer off to something bizarre and different. As is by now well known, President Trump has signed innumerable Executive orders, sometimes overturning decisions of the previous government, sometimes delivering on his promises to his base and sometimes laying out important policy decisions. It was thus during his interaction with the Press while signing some executive orders on the 25th of February with 'a lot of cameras blazing' and in answer to a completely unrelated question regarding the reduction of the Federal workforce that he first came out with the idea of selling a Gold Card in lieu of American citizenship and the privilege of working in the USA. News media have already reported the same but it is instructive to follow the conversations when the idea was adumbrated.

The to and fro went like this:

Reporter: Mr. President. There are approximately two million federal employees right now. By the end of your term, what do you expect that number to be? What would you like that number?

Donald Trump: Well, it'll be lower, but I can't tell you we -- Everybody knows I ran on downsizing government but making government better. I ran on tariffs and making our country rich and that's what's going to do. We're going to be doing something else. It's going to be very, very good. We're going to be selling a gold card, you have a green card, this is a gold card.

And we think it's going to be extremely successful and never been done before or anything like this. But it's something that we're going to be putting out over the next, would you say two weeks, Howard?

Howard Lutnick (the Commerce Secretary)

So the EB-5 program was really -- you lend some money, but it was all -- it was full of nonsense make believe and fraud and it was a way to get a green card that was low priced. 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, which is really a green card gold.

So, they'll be able to pay $5 million, to the US government. They'll have to go through vetting, of course, we're going to make sure they're wonderful world class global citizens. They can come to America, the President can give them a green card and they can invest in America and we can use that money to reduce our deficit.

Why do we give out lotteries of green cards? Why do we give out EB-5 for green cards? The President of the United States understands that the right answer is why don't we eliminate the deficit of the United States of America instead.

Donal Trump - The gold card, the gold card -- well millions, but the gold card will bring in with it people that create jobs, very high level people. I think companies will pay to get people in. For instance, you -- today graduate from the Wharton School of Finance or Harvard or Stanford or -- or any college, and nobody knows if you can even go to work for a company.

So, Apple and all these companies that want to get people to be working for them will be able to buy a card. And for the people that are number one in their class at top schools, I see that as one of the things. But generally speaking, it'll be people with money and people that create jobs and they won't have to pay any tax on income outside of the United States, which they're not paying right now.

They're not citizens. But they'll have to pay, if they create jobs in the United States, they'll pay full taxes like everybody else. So, you're getting big taxpayers, big job producers and we'll be able to sell maybe a million of these cards, maybe more than that. And if you add up the numbers, they're pretty good.

As an example, a million cards would be worth $5 trillion, $5 trillion

And if you sell 10 million of the cards, that's a total of $50 trillion. Well, we have 35 trillion in debt. That would be nice. So we'll see, but it could be great. Maybe it will be fantastic. We have it all worked out from the legal standpoint. It's totally legal to do. It hasn't been done before. It's been done in many different forms.

We give them away. Why should we give them away? We shouldn't give away. And I think it's something very exciting. I think it's potentially just something that we're all very excited about. So it's a gold card. It's somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication. It's a road to citizenship for people.

And essentially, people of wealth or people of great talent where people of wealth pay for those people of talent to get in, meaning companies will pay for people to get in and to have long-term status in the country. And I think it's something we're very, very happy about. You have anything to say about that?

Howard Lutnick

Well, many other countries, by the way, do this, including of course your 51st state does that. (The reference is to Canada)

Question

And the money is earmarked for deficit reduction?

Donald Trump

It may be earmarked for deficit, but it actually could be more money than that. I mean, if you did 10 million, you'd have $ 15 trillion left over, but generally, it's going to be paid down debt. Yes.

Question

Do you need Congress for this? Do you think you need them to pass a law?

Donald Trump-

No, we don't need Congress, no, because we're not doing citizenship. We're doing the card.

Donal Trump-

It's a path to citizenship, a very strong path to citizenship, but we're not doing the citizenship. For that, I'd have to get Congress.

Question.

And would all countries be eligible for this gold card?

It depends. The countries, largely -- the people will be vetted very carefully.

……..

Question –(Russian) oligarch be eligible for a gold card?

Donald Trump-

Yeah, possibly. Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people. It's possible. They're not quite as wealthy as they used to be. They're not as wealthy as they used to be, but I think they can afford $5 million. No, a lot of people are going to want to be in this country and they'll be able to work and provide jobs and build companies and pay taxes.

All of those things, it's an incredible thing. I mean, this is the group that is the first to hear it. Nobody's heard about it. Nobody ever thought about it. But we've been thinking about it very, very strongly over the last week. And I was going to announce it sometime next week. And I figured, why not?

We have a lot of cameras blazing right now. We might as well do it now. We'll have Karoline announce it the next time. No, it's a great thing. The gold card, remember the words the gold card. Somebody said, can we call it the Trump gold card? I said, if it helps, use the name Trump. I'll give it to you for free.

Question- [Inaudible] you probably just launched 10,000 stories. Do you want to elaborate a little bit more on what Russian oligarchs you know or don't know?

Donald Trump- Isn't it interesting how many stories we do tell, and they all turn out to be true, and they all turn out to be ultimately correct. Trump was right about everything. Do you have one of those Trump was right about everything hats? I'm going to give it to this gentleman. Get me one of them.

Howard Lutnick- They're all going to be vetted. Everybody who comes in gets vetted. OK? They get vetted. So you got to -- you know?

Question- When does it begin?

Howard Lutnick- We're going to begin in two weeks.

Donald Trump- About two weeks. The sale will start in about two weeks.

(The full transcript of the conversation is available at:
https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-remarks-executive-orders-white-house-february-25-2025/

Then, on the 26th of February, Mr. Trump had his first Cabinet meeting. And on that occasion also, the idea of the Gold card was discussed.

Reporter-

Can I follow on that, Mr. President? (The discussion was about illegal immigrants)

Q Mr. President. About the - the Trump gold card idea -

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

Q - that you unveiled yesterday.

THE PRESIDENT: I hope you liked it. (Laughter.)

Q - I await more information. But the question is: Does this reflect a view, on your part, that the American immigration system has never been properly monetized as you feel it should be?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, not so much monetized. It hasn't been properly run. I get calls from, as an example, companies where they want to hire the number one student at a school. A person comes from India, China, Japan, lots of different places, and they go to Harvard, the Wharton School of Finance. They go to Yale. They go to all great schools. And they graduate number one in their class, and they are made job offers, but the offer is immediately rescinded because you have no idea whether or not that person can stay in the country. I want to be able to have that person stay in the country. These companies can go and buy a gold card, and they can use it as a matter of recruitment. At the same time, the company is using that money to pay down debt. We're going to - we're going to pay down a lot of debt with that.

Q - Are they going to have to -

THE PRESIDENT: And I think the gold card is going to be used by - not only for that. I mean, they'll be used by companies. I mean, I could see Apple - I've spoken with Tim Cook - and, (by the way, he's going to make a $500 billion investment in the country only because of the results of the election and, I think, because of tariffs. He's going to want to be in the country because of tariffs. Because if you're in the country, there is no tariff. If you're out of the country, you got to pay tariffs. And that's going to be a great investment, I think, that he's making. I know it's going to be a great investment).

But we have to be able to get people in the country, and we want people that are productive people. And I will tell you, the people that can pay $5 million, they're going to create jobs. They're going to spend a lot of money on jobs. They're going to have to pay taxes on that too. So, they're going to be hiring people, they're going to be bringing people in and companies in. And, I don't know, maybe it will sell like crazy. I happen to think it's going to sell like crazy. It's a bargain.

Q - Will they have to commit to a certain number?

THE PRESIDENT: - know fairly soon. I think Howard and - and Scott - a few of you, really, are responsible for it. But, Howard, if you want to discuss that for a couple of minutes, I think I'd like to have you. I think it's going to be a very successful program.

SECRETARY LUTNICK: Sure.

THE PRESIDENT: This is Commerce.

SECRETARY LUTNICK:

So, the EB-5 program, which has been around for many years, had investment of a million dollars into projects in America. And those projects were often suspect, they didn't really work out, there wasn't any oversight of it. And so, for a million-dollar investment, you got a visa, and then you came into the country and ended up with a green card.

So, it was poorly overseen, poorly executed. Then you had our border open, where millions of people came through.

So, the idea is we will have a proper business. We will modify the EB-5 agreement. Kristi and I are working on it together. For $5 million, they'll get a license from the Department of Commerce. Then they'll make a proper investment on the EB-5, right? And we think Scott and I will design the EB-5 investment model, because Scott and I are the best people together to do that. So, this is joint.

(This is exactly the Trump administration. We all work together. We work it out to be the best.) And if we sell - just remember - 200,000 - there's a line for EB-5 of 250,000 right now - 200,000 of these gold green cards is $1 trillion to pay down our debt, and that's why the president is doing it, because we are going to balance this budget, and we are going to pay off the debt under President Trump.

Q: And to qualify, do you have to promise and make commitments to create a certain number of jobs here in the U.S.?

THE PRESIDENT: No. No. Because not all these people are going to be job builders. They'll be successful people, or they'll be people that were hired from colleges, like - sort of like paying an athlete a bonus. I mean, Apple or one of the companies will go out and they'll spend five mil- - they'll buy five of them, and they're going to get five people.

Look, I've had the complaint where - I've had the complaint from a lot of companies where they go out to hire people, and they can't hire them - out of colleges. And you know what they do? They go back to India, or they go back to the country where they came, and they open up a company, and they become billionaires. They become - and they're employing thousands and there are a lot of examples.

There are some really big examples where they were forced out of the country. They graduated top in their class at a great school, and they weren't able to stay. This is all the time you hear it.

And the biggest complaint I get from companies, other than overregulation, which we took care of, but we're going to have to take care of it here, because a lot of that was put back on by Biden. But the biggest complaint is the fact that they can't have any longevity with people. This way, they have pretty much unlimited longevity.

Also, with the $5 million, you know, that's a path to citizenship. So, that's going to be - it's sort of a green card-plus, and it's a path to citizenship. We're going to call it the gold card. And I think it's going to be very treasured. I think it's going to do very well. And we're going to start selling, hopefully, in about two weeks.

Now, just so you understand, if we sell a million - right? - a million, that's $5 trillion. Five trillion. Howard was using a different number, but that's $5 trillion. If we sell 10 million, which is possible - 10 million highly productive people coming in or people that we're going to make productive - they'll be young, but they're talented, like a talented athlete - that's $50 trillion.

That means our debt is totally paid off, and we have $15 trillion above that. And - now, I don't know that we're going to sell that many. Maybe we won't so many at all. But I think we're going to sell a lot, because I think there's - there really is a thirst.

No other country can do this, because people don't want to go to other countries. They want to come here. Everybody wants to come here, especially since November 5th. (Laughter.) (Cross-talk.)

SECRETARY LUTNICK: They'll all be vetted, by the way. All these people will be vetted.

Q. How?

SECRETARY LUTNICK: Okay? They'll be vetted

(Source: The White House- Remarks by President Trump Before The Cabinet Meeting, February 26, 2025)

Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/remarks/2025/02/remarks-by-president-trump-before-cabinet-meeting/

Subsequently, on the 4th of March, 2025 in his joint address to Congress, President Trump reiterated the idea. The relevant part of that speech was as follows:

(…)

"And in the near future, I want to do what has not been done in 24 years: balance the federal budget. We're going to balance it. (Applause.)

With that goal in mind, we have developed in great detail what we are calling the gold card, which goes on sale very, very soon.

For $5 million, we will allow the most successful, job-creating people from all over the world to buy a path to U.S. citizenship. It's like the green card but better and more sophisticated. (Laughter.) And these people will have to pay tax in our country. They won't have to pay tax from where they came. The money that they've made, you wouldn't want to do that, but they have to pay tax, create jobs.

They'll also be taking people out of colleges and paying for them so that we can keep them in our country, instead of having them being forced out. Number one at the top school, as an example, being forced out and not being allowed to stay and create tremendous numbers of jobs and great success for a company out there.

So, while we take out the criminals, killers, traffickers, and child predators who were allowed to enter our country under the open border policy of these people - the Democrats, the Biden administration - the open border, insane policies that you've allowed to destroy our country - we will now bring in brilliant, hardworking, job creating people. They're going to pay a lot of money, and we're going to reduce our debt with that money. (Applause.)"

(Source: The White House- Remarks by President Trump In Joint Address to Congress, March6, 2025) available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/remarks/2025/03/remarks-by-president-trump-in-joint-address-to-congress/

What transpires from the above three sources is that the USA will abandon or modify its current EB-IV VISA scheme and replace it with a golden VISA scheme that will serve multiple purposes. It will be pricey and bring in a lot of money- so much that the same will wipe off all the accumulated deficit of 35 trillion dollars that the USA government has so far accumulated besides generating a surplus. The Card will be used by rich people who will possibly be vetted by the US government and it will ultimately lead to American citizenship that is coveted by many. The holders will not be taxed on their foreign source income. The card may also be used by American companies who often complain about their inability to recruit the best students from the top American colleges and this will help the USA to retain the best talents in the country.

Whether all the claims will fructify or not is of course a matter of debate. Forbes apparently has conducted a survey of some 18 billionaires about relocating to the USA and it has been reported that but for two, none has shown any enthusiasm. [Billionaires Don't Want Trump's Golden Visa https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/2025/02/28/billionaires-dont-want-trumps-golden-visa/]

Of course, in absence of many details like the applicability or otherwise of the USA's system of citizenship based worldwide taxation and availability or otherwise of alternate routes to citizenship, it is perhaps premature to guess how these billionaires will actually behave.

Besides, as Fareed Zakaria points out, by cutting budgets for education and also aggressively going after Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, the administration is perhaps unwittingly destroying the attractiveness of the American Educational Institutions. (Fareed's Take: Trump Administration's 'War on Colleges'-CNN)