Washington:
As Elon Musk’s tenure in the government-slashing task force nears its end, US President Donald Trump has entrusted his billionaire aide and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with a new task– building a system to sell the “Gold Card” to rich immigrants. Engineers associated with Musk’s team are working to create a website and application process for the “special immigration visas” priced at $5 million apiece, according to a report by The New York Times.
The DOGE team is collaborating with employees from the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to create the visa portal, the report said.
Trump’s Gold Card
The American President announced the new “route to citizenship” of the United States for “very high-level people” in late February and called it a “gold card”. However, at the time, the US President or his Team provided few details about who would qualify for the program.
The Trump administration said the “gold card” would replace the existing EB-5 visa programme, which grants permanent residence to foreign nationals willing to invest either $800,000 or $1.05 million in US businesses, creating at least 10 jobs for American workers. The programme raised about $4 billion for the federal government last year.
Trump also showed a laminated card, featuring his face, the Statue of Liberty and a bald eagle, to the media earlier this month, saying the gold card would be out in “less than two weeks.”
About The Gold Card Project
From the DOGE side, the gold card project is being led by Marko Elez and Edward Coristine, who have been working on it since at least last month, according to the NYT report.
The Duo have reportedly met with officials at various agencies that oversee facets of the visa and immigrant vetting process to understand which existing processes can be incorporated into their new system.
The report said that DOGE engineers are still assessing how to create a gold card system that would bypass the normal visa application processes, which vary but can take years.
The team is focusing on ways to expedite the typical immigrant vetting process, which involves interviews and background checks, and obtain residency approval for high-net-worth applicants within two weeks of applying.
Howard Lutnick On the Gold Card
Last month, Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, on a podcast said he had sold 1,000 of the visas, however, no proof of financial transactions was shown at the time.
“So if you have a gold card – which used to be a green card – you’re a permanent resident of America,” Lutnick said. He, however, did not clarify if holders would go on to become US citizens.
“They pay $5 million, and they have the right to be an American and the right to be in America as long as they’re good people and they’re vetted and they can’t break the law,” he added.
Lutnick also informed that Musk was building the software, and the program will be unveiled in two weeks.
On Thursday, Lutnick updated the timeline, saying the gold card would be ready “within a week and a half.”
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