WASHINGTON: Just one particular person has been permitted for United States President Donald Trump’s “gold card” visa programme thus far, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick mentioned on Thursday (Apr 23), referring to a million-dollar residency card unveiled final yr.
The US chief signed an order final September to create the programme providing residency for a price of US$1 million. It began accepting purposes in December.
US officers have just lately permitted one particular person, Lutnick instructed a US Home committee on Thursday.
“And there are a whole lot within the queue” who’re going by means of the method, he added.
Candidates additionally need to pay a US$15,000 Division of Homeland Safety processing price, and Lutnick mentioned they might undergo a “most critical vetting and evaluation”.
The “gold card” residency programme expenses a US$1 million price for people and US$2 million for sponsorships by companies.
Its creation got here on the similar time that Trump ordered an annual US$100,000 price to be added to H-1B expert employee visas.
Trump initially mentioned the brand new visa would usher in job creators and could possibly be used to scale back the nationwide deficit.
Since returning to the presidency in 2025, Trump has tightened immigration and his administration has performed harsh deportation raids.
