Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Monday that nearly 70,000 people have signed up for President Donald Trump’s gold card visa, which will grant foreigners legal residency in the U.S. for a $5 million investment.
On Monday morning, Lutnick said his department’s internal online dashboard showed 67,697 people on the waiting list. Within an hour, the number jumped to 68,703, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.
“The card will be made of gold,” Lutnick told the Financial Times. “It will be beautiful. Donald Trump appreciates these kinds of things. He cares about how it looks. He cares about how it feels.
“I mean, he deeply cares about that and thinks if you’re going to buy and make this investment in America, we should give you something that is beautiful.”
The chief executive of a global technology company who asked not to be named told the Financial Times through a spokesperson that his group would seek to buy more than 100 gold cards if the program comes to “fruition,” adding he viewed the initiative as a way “to welcome the world’s best and brightest to the United States — particularly entrepreneurs, engineers, and scientists.”
The White House still needs to determine key details about the program, including the design of a special tax structure for gold card holders, the Financial Times reported. Although the vetting of applicants is expected to be done by the departments of Homeland Security, State, and Commerce, Trump has not decided whether citizens of any particular countries would be excluded from applying. Trump has banned travel to the U.S. from a dozen nations and is reportedly considering others.
Italian billionaire and stablecoin Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino told the Financial Times in April that the success of such visas depended on the tax treatment they are afforded.
The Commerce Department last week launched trumpcard.gov, where gold-card applicants can register their interest by providing contact information, including their name, email address, and region of the world.
Lutnick said the initial idea for the gold card visa came from Trump donor John Paulson as a way to raise revenue to help pay down the national debt, which stands at $36.2 trillion. If 68,703 people are approved for the gold-card visa, that would generate more than $345.5 billion.
In February, Trump announced plans for the gold card as a replacement for EB-5 visas, in which foreign investors seeking permanent residency in the U.S. would need to commit a minimum of $1.8 million.
At the time, Trump said the gold card will help entice wealthy foreigners to take advantage of a system that will help the U.S. grow with new investments. During the first Cabinet meeting of his second term, Trump suggested revenue generated could be used to reduce the national debt.
“If we sell a million, that’s $5 trillion,” he said.
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