‘Better pathway to get citizenship’: Trump launches Gold Card

“You have to go back to India, they have to go back to China, they have to go back to France. They have to go back to wherever they came from. Very hard to stay. It’s a shame,” he said, adding that the website of the Gold Card programme, which was announced in February — is live and companies can “buy” the Gold Card to keep the students they hire from top American universities in the US.

The Trump administration has been tightening the H1B visa programme under its broader policy on checking immigration. There has been wider scrutiny now of social media posts and profiles of visa applicants. The decision came even as pre-scheduled interviews of thousands of H-1B visa applicants slated for later this month in India have been abruptly postponed by several months, apparently to scrutinise their social media posts and online profiles.

Over the years, Indians have been the largest beneficiaries of the H1B programme – at around 70%, but after an announcement of a hike in fee earlier this year and tighter scrutiny, the registrations have been falling. New H-1B approvals for software engineers specifically have dropped, hitting a 10-year low in late 2025. In fact, FY 2026 saw the lowest registrations in four years, a significant drop from FY 2024.

The visa website, trumpcard.gov, is now live and includes a link of the official application, promising “US residency in record time”. “For a $15,000 DHS processing fee and, after background approval, a contribution of $1 million, receive US residency in record time with the Trump Gold Card,” it reads.

It also announces a soon-to-be-launched Platinum Card, allowing foreign nationals to secure their places on the waiting list for the Trump Platinum Card. When launched, and upon receipt of a $15,000 DHS processing fee and $5 million contribution, they will have the ability to spend up to 270 days in the US without being subject to US taxes on non-US income, says the website.

Giving details of the Gold Card, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said it will cost $1 million for an individual and $2 million for a corporation and will involve “full” and “best” vetting to “make sure these people absolutely qualify to be in America”. “Then the company can keep them here, and they have a path to citizenship,” he added. These applicants will become eligible for US citizenship after five years.

Trump said that he has heard from Apple CEO Tim Cook several times and other executives that they cannot hire people from the best colleges because “you don’t know whether or not you can keep the person”. Trump said Cook spoke to him about this “real problem”. “It’s not going to be a problem anymore… we solved that,” said the US President.