ToplineU.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the government is considering making the $1 million Trump Gold Card the only pathway to a U.S. green card—but immigration experts tell Forbes that it doesn’t pass the legal sniff test.
President Donald Trump and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have hyped the Trump Gold Card visa—but immigration experts say it’s far from a done deal. (Photo by Andrew Harnik)
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Key FactsIn a recent meeting with immigration hardliners, Lutnick said the Trump administration was considering “‘suspending’ all other green card categories” so the Trump Gold Card would be the only pathway to immigrate permanently, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday evening.
The Trump Gold Card Visa officially launched Friday for 80% less than its original $5 million price tag—a telltale sign, experts say, of low demand.
Multiple immigration experts told Forbes it is neither legal nor feasible for the Trump Gold Card to replace existing pathways to a U.S. green card—including the EB-5 visa, which offers residency through investment, and the EB-1 and EB-2 visas, which offer residency to foreign nationals through employment.
“Congress writes the rules” on visas and “the president can’t just snap his fingers and change the rules,” Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, told Forbes.
What Is The Status Of The Trump Gold Card?The Trump administration has hyped the Gold Card but “I don’t think it’s happening,” Gelatt told Forbes, pointing to recent remarks by Joseph Edlow, the newly confirmed director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), that appeared to indicate the government does not yet have its ducks in a row. “We at the department will ensure that if a Gold Card does come to fruition, that there will be sufficient vetting and screening for any applicant that comes through the process,” Edlow told the Center for Immigration Studies last week. Multiple immigration experts told Forbes that creating a new visa must go through the legislative branch. “Unless Congress acts, there will never be a Trump Gold Card because it’s not consistent with current law, and it’s not going to survive the invariable legal challenges,” Jorge Loweree, managing director of programs and strategy at the American Immigration Council, told Forbes. Writing in the National Law Review on Wednesday, attorneys at Ogletree Deakins, one of the country’s largest labor and employment law firms, concluded, “At this time, it is unclear whether the EB-1 and EB-2 immigrant visa programs for people of ‘exceptional value’ may be replaced, with the potential to eliminate or replace other immigrant visa programs in the future.” It’s strange and perhaps telling, note experts, that the Trump Gold Card is being managed by the Commerce Department and not Homeland Security. “Maybe that’s an indication of how things have played out internally,” Loweree speculated. “Maybe there’s been some level of pushback at DHS or USCIS in terms of the underlying legal prospects of being able to do this.”