Donald Trump says citizenship ‘gold card is like green card but better, more sophisticated’. What is it?

US President Donald Trump said during his first address to joint session of Congress, “We have developed in great detail what we are calling the Gold Card, which goes on sale very soon.”

“It's like the green card, but better and more sophisticated. These people will have to pay tax in our country,” Trump said on Tuesday. 

Administration officials have said they won't discriminate based on country of origin, but candidates will be vetted, CBS news reported.

How much will a Gold Card cost?

US President Donald Trump said he would like to offer migrants who want to work in the US a “gold card,” akin to a green card, with one difference: the price tag. A gold card would cost $5 million, compared to government fees of $235 for a green card.

Trump said that for $5 million dollars, "we will allow the most successful, job-creating people from all over the world to buy a path to US citizenship."

Gold Card: Whose it for? Will they have to pay taxes?

Trump said Gold-Card-holders “will have to pay tax in our country. They don't have to pay tax from where they came.”

“The money they have made...they have to pay tax and create jobs. They also be taking people out of colleges and paying for them so that we can keep them in our country instead of having them forced out,” Trump said.

Gold Card: How will it hep US?

Trump said, “We will now bring in brilliant hard working job-creating people in. They are going to pay a lot of money and we are going to reduce our debt with that money.”

According to Bloomberg, Trump estimates that the US could sell one million gold cards, which would give holders quick residency rights and a path to citizenship, family members included. 

That would bring in $5 trillion. He also suggests that many companies would buy them to bring in talented workers. Even if his estimates are overly optimistic, there is some real money on the table.

Under current law, there already is a path to residency and citizenship by investing in the US through the EB-5 program. After expenses are accounted for, and depending on details, the cost is about $1 million. That’s an 80% discount on a gold card, and meanwhile, the government gets the benefit of new jobs added to the US economy.

The Trump proposal is intended to replace this program, which has been criticised for fraud and abuse. Charging a flat fee may be better than requiring a certain amount of investment, since there is no ambiguity as to whether the person has paid up and no incentive to concoct dubious job-creation schemes.

The gold card may involve some of the same problems as the EB-5 program in terms of being an easy way for spies and potential terrorists to enter America, but it’s unlikely to make them worse, and at least the price would be higher.

It's also reported that with a gold card program, the government would have a financial incentive to limit other ways of establishing residency.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)