Trump Drops $1M Gold Card, Raising The Heat On EB-5 Investment

The waitlist is open for the newly created “gold card,” part of the Trump administration’s efforts to attract foreign talent and capital to the U.S. The program will allow international investors to obtain residency status with a $1M payment to the U.S. government.

The program has gained traction among those wealthy enough to consider it, but as the president’s intended replacement for the EB-5 immigrant investor program, its implementation could divert billions away from the investment projects EB-5 applicants are required to fund.

“It’ll become a direct competitor for EB-5,” said David Lesperance, founder of Lesperance & Associates, a firm that specializes in immigration and tax advice. “The gold card will completely cannibalize EB-5. The question will be, why aren’t you getting a gold card?”

The revamped gold card was first announced in the early days of the president's second term. The new version features a lower cost than the initially proposed $5M, grants an investor resident alien status and a pathway to citizenship, and makes them a U.S. person for the purpose of taxation.

The $1M is being termed a “financial gift to the Nation,” according to a Sept. 19 executive order, and brings the financial contribution roughly in line with EB-5.

EB-5 requires an investment of at least $800K in a U.S. business or property and is popular enough with investors, particularly from places like China and India, that a significant backlog exists. The relative speed of the gold card is likely to offer an attractive alternative, Lesperance said. 

Between 70,000 and 80,000 investors have joined a waitlist and requested more information about the gold card program as it becomes available, according to Sam Chandan, founding director and professor at New York University’s Chao-Hon Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance. 

EB-5 has seen rising investment and interest in recent months. A record nearly 15,000 such visas were issued in 2024. The pace has only accelerated so far this year with nearly 9,000 issued, primarily to those emigrating from China, Vietnam, Taiwan, India and South Korea. 

The program isn't a major contributor to CRE investment but remains an important funding source, raising more than $2B each in 2023 and 2024, much of which was directed toward real estate projects. The best-known commercial project to arise from EB-5 is New York City’s Hudson Yards.

“With the gold card, in its current form, there’s no reason to believe the money will be directed towards real estate projects,” Chandan said.

Both the gold card and a proposed $5M platinum card will require federal legislation to enact, according to analysts interviewed for this story, although the administration argues it can change these immigration programs via executive order. 

The EB-5 program will sunset in 2027 unless renewed by Congress, setting up a potential battle in the House and Senate around these policies, with the Trump administration having already stated its displeasure with the EB-5 program.

While President Donald Trump’s immigration policies have been identified as key reasons foreign tourism has declined in 2025, the very wealthy still see safety and security in investing and relocation to the U.S., said Basil Mohr-Elzeki, head of Americas for Henley & Partners, a foreign investment advisory firm.

Henley & Partners expects that in 2025 alone, 7,500 millionaires will relocate to the U.S., which would make it the second-largest destination for relocation for that income bracket, behind the United Arab Emirates. 

“Many people may have expected the opposite, but all the geopolitical tensions and global uncertainty is actually creating more flow into the United States,” Mohr-Elzeki said. 

Lesperance also said he expects that the market for gold cards will include wealthy parents seeking to buy security for their children they would like to send to study at U.S. universities.

Along with the gold card, Trump announced a change for the H-1B visa, abruptly issuing an order that future visas will come with a $100K fee.

The changes to a visa program meant for individuals with in-demand talent will have slight impacts on the architecture, construction and engineering industries, according to the American Institute of Architects and the Associated Builders and Contractors. 

But it is part of the reimagining of federal immigration policy around workforce talent and foreign investment. 

Other experts see a future where EB-5 and the gold card program coexist. 

While the difference in cost between the two programs has narrowed from the original proposal, EB-5 still offers a path to recoup that initial investment via a successful project, according to Jill Jones, general counsel of institutional client services in the U.S. at JTC Group and a specialist in the EB-5 program. 

The EB-5 program, which provides both a legal pathway for immigration and investment that directly impacts American jobs and economic growth, should fit with the Trump administration’s professed policy goals, Jones said. 

Skepticism remains for many about the gold card, according to Murat Coskun, managing partner at Get Golden Visa, a consultancy for those hunting for residencies in a range of nations. 

Coskun views it as more sketched out than fully formed as a policy. Heavy on headlines and light on detail, it may appeal to those seeking speed, but it lacks the proven pathway and real infrastructure that have sprung up around EB-5. 

“EB-5 has its flaws, but it’s proven, regulated, and tied to clear economic outcomes,” he said in an email.

Overall, EB-5 doesn’t have a significant impact on the overall capital flow into commercial real estate, Chandan said, but it does have an outsized impact on certain rural developments that really depend on this capital to pencil. 

Lesperance expects the EB-5 lobby will fight to slow these changes and prevent the end of EB-5. But he also said Republicans in Congress will likely accede to the president’s wishes, and if Trump prioritizes this, he can likely get it done in 13 months before the midterms. 

That could create a run on EB-5. Mohr-Elzeki said he sees investors rushing to take advantage of the program before it ends. 

“I hope that the U.S. government would have a transition period or have a timeline until it's phased out to encourage developers to finish their projects,” Mohr-Elzeki said.