A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high net worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
President Donald Trump’s proposed $5 million “gold card” for U.S. residency would be one the most expensive in the world, according to experts.
Yet with the global ultra-wealthy moving to other countries in record numbers and seeking safe havens — and with a potential tax benefit up for grabs — demand is already strong.
“The introduction of the gold card visa program represents a unique opportunity for high-net-worth individuals looking to secure U.S. residence with a pathway to citizenship,” said Dominic Volek, head of private clients at Henley & Partners. “The U.S. remains the undisputed leader in private wealth creation and accumulation.”
Volek and others who cater to the global rich say they’ve already fielded calls from clients wanting to purchase a Trump gold card. Approximately 135,000 of the world’s millionaires are projected to migrate to a new country in 2025, according to Henley. The UAE and the U.S. typically top the list of destinations.
“I think it’s going to sell like crazy,” Trump said at his first Cabinet press conference Wednesday. “It’s a bargain.”
While the details remain unclear, the proposal would radically change the U.S. residency path for the global rich, who currently have to navigate a patchwork of programs with tight restrictions to stay in the country. It would also mark a major potential tax change for the global rich living in the U.S., carving out a new loophole for gold-card holders.
The fast-growing industry of attorneys and wealth advisors who counsel the rich on passports and visas was caught by surprise by the announcement. They say clients are calling with a blizzard of questions.
“This came out of the blue,” said Laura Foote Reiff, an attorney at Greenberg Traurig who specializes in business immigration. “We need to see it on paper with more details.”
One thing is clear: At $5 million, the program would be among the most expensive in the world. Volek said Singapore’s Global Investor Program requires an investment of SG$10 million, or about US$7.5 million. New Zealand’s comparable program requires an investment of up to NZ$10 million or about US$5.7 million.
Yet most investment visa programs around the world cost less than $1 million, attorneys say.
About 100 countries offer some type of investment visa program, with about 60 jurisdictions actively promoting their programs, according to Henley. Roughly 30 programs dominate the $20 billion-a-year investment migration business, with Malta, the UAE, Portugal, Italy and several jurisdictions in the Caribbean being the most popular.
Similar programs in Australia and Portugal have faced a national backlash or become prone to fraud. Australia introduced a “golden ticket visa” in 2012 for those who invested at least AU$5 million into approved investments, including Australian private equity funds or Australia-listed companies. While the program attracted 2,349 visa holders, a special commission found that it didn’t generate the expected financial benefits and was exploited by corrupt overseas officials.
Portugal launched its golden visa program in 2008, allowing those who invested at least $300,000 in the country to qualify. More than 30,000 people took advantage of the program, many buying beach properties in the Algarve region for their investment requirement. The program has since been scaled back after resentment over rising property prices and findings of corruption.
At Wednesday’s press conference, Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the U.S. gold card would replace the current investment visa program, called EB-5, which offers green cards to those who invest at least $900,000 or $1.8 million, depending on the area and project. The EB-5 program been plagued by delays and a history of fraud and abuse. Despite its stated mission of creating jobs in underserved or high-unemployment areas, the program ended up funneling money to high-end real estate developments in New York, Florida and other locales.
The program was renewed by Congress in 2022 with major changes that required the investments to be channeled to more rural, poor areas and to infrastructure projects.
When it comes to applicants, China has been far and away the largest source of those seeking EB-5 visas, with Taiwan, Vietnam and India also ranking high. The U.S. issued just over 12,000 EB-5 visas last year, with two thirds going to Chinese nationals, according to the State Department.
The wealthy Chinese are also the dominant users of investment-visa programs around the world, including in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Lutnick said Wednesday there is a waitlist of over 200,000 people for the EB-5 program. He said that if every one of those hopefuls purchased a gold card, “we would have a trillion dollars to pay down the debt.”
Attorneys say the likely demand is a fraction of that total – perhaps thousands but not hundreds of thousands. There are about 424,000 people in the world worth $30 million or more, with 148,000 of them in the U.S., leaving about 277,000 overseas ultra-wealthy who could reasonably afford the program.
Yet only a small fraction of them would likely apply to live in the U.S., immigration attorneys say. Last year, the U.S. had a net inflow of about 3,800 millionaires according to Henley.
“Hundreds of thousands sounds high,” Foote Reiff said. “There may be businesses that would pay to bring in top talent, like research scientists that they want to bring here and not be subject to quotas.”
She said that aside from employer sponsorships, some applicants could take out loans to fund the $5 million or source the funds from several family members.
One big draw of the new program is tax benefits. Historically, permanent residents in the U.S. have to pay income tax on their U.S. earnings as well as any income they earn overseas, including in their home country. The U.S. tax on worldwide income makes it far less attractive for the global rich who have businesses spread across the world and often sheltered in tax havens.
Trump said gold-card holders would not be subject to taxes on their overseas income.
He said he expects the biggest demand will be from companies (especially in tech) seeking to hire top college graduates in the U.S. who come from India, China or other countries but can’t get proper visas.
