Business Immigration Insights

In public remarks on Tuesday February 26th, President Trump spoke about a proposal for a new type of U.S. visa, a “Gold Card”. While the President did not go into details, he suggested that this new visa could be issued to companies or to individuals for $5 million per card. Other members of the administration suggested that this new status will replace the existing EB-5 investor visa program. If the administration chooses to pursue implementing this new visa, the proposal will have to go through multiple stages of development including congressional legislation to update the Immigration and Nationality Act, making President Trump’s statement about availability within weeks unlikely.

If this proposal does become law, the United States will join several other countries with "Golden Visa" programs, including Portugal, the UAE, Dominica, and Thailand. These programs are designed to attract foreign investment by granting residency or citizenship in exchange for substantial financial contributions, such as investments in real estate, business, or government bonds. The U.S. program differs as it is designed to pay off the U.S. debt rather than create jobs through investment. If this program becomes law, it will be the most expensive Golden Visa in the world.

There is a significant tax benefit attached to this Gold Card proposal. Wealthy foreign nationals tend to avoid becoming U.S. permanent residents and/or U.S. citizens to avoid U.S. taxation on their worldwide income. To attract future Gold Card holders, the administration says the U.S. will not tax them on their worldwide income, but only on their U.S. income. This will give Gold Card holders a benefit not provided to current permanent residents or U.S. citizens. It is unclear if the idea is for this benefit to continue if they choose to become U.S. citizens or is only available to those who remain in Gold Card status.

We will update this blog as more details emerge about this program.