The US generally requires the minimum investment into the economy as one of the ways a person can be "sponsored" for residency -> citizenship.
Last time I had extensive experience with US immigration (under the INS, pre-DHS), there were 4 ways to be sponsored:
By a spouse (shorter waiting list, priority if limited #'s allowed in from your country)
By a close relative (parent, child, sibling) - longer waiting list, or not at all if your country has a low number of people allowed to apply annually
By an employer
By yourself if you had documentation proving at least $1 million invested in economy (owning a company of that value would do it)
The sponsorship agreement was a contract with the government that said if that person receives government benefits (food stamps / EBT, housing assistance, Medicaid, anything at all) within the next TEN YEARS, the government would win a lawsuit / get a government judgment against the sponsoring person or business to repay it in full.
It looks to me like Trump is just trying to increase the threshold to $5 million and slap a "golden card" name to it all.
This is not normal government. There has been a coup. Note that courts have absolutely no effect anymore. Trump and Musk ignore them. Note that representatives from both houses have a job to do anymore. You could get rid of them all - not that many of the representatives did anything other than take bribes anyway.
Hey I'm definitely not defending anything Trump/Elon/MAGA are doing. I was just sharing knowledge I had gained from bringing my spouse through the immigration system many years ago. It was awful and I believe things could have been improved. Sadly they're being made far worse.
It's not the same though. The EB-5 program is paid as an investment into a company that creates at least 10 new full time jobs. The Gold Card program is just paid to the federal government and as of now, there is no requirement that any new jobs are created.
Do you know the money goes to the federal government? I haven't seen proof of where the money goes for the card - I assumed he'd be pocketing it similar to his crypto
Not exactly - the previous way was riddled with fraud and was mostly a pay to enter with minimal jobs being created and the investments were forced in manufacturing on spec (with mostly illegal workers) with a lower expected return
And while I despise Elonald and what MAGA is doing to this country, annnnd while it's disgraceful how Trump "peddles" all kinds of "golden" crap and calls this a "gold card,"... to be otherwise fair, this not only replaces the previous US EB5 visa, but is also a common practice around the world. Many other countries offer citizenship pathways based upon providing proof of investing a certain minimum amount into the country's economy. Amounts and rules vary... but the practice is widespread from the US and Canada to countries across the Pond as well.
Canada has various programs. It's common in many "first world" countries, though rules about what qualifies, minimum amounts, and other stipulations vary from country to country and program to program.
The US' program has up until now required the investment into the economy if that's the route of sponsorship being used, plus a mountain of large fees that are paid directly to the US government over a period of years. Every form that is filed requires hundreds, sometimes over a thousand dollars, for example, and they all add up to spending well over 10 grand any way you slice it. Even with a spouse that's a citizen, even if you're a poor E-2 active duty service member in the armed forces. If you don't make enough to qualify to sign the sponsorship agreement, and if you don't have the money to pay the fees to file, you just can't.
I don't know the specifics about what Trump is intending. If he's not just raising the investment threshold to $5 million but is actually instituting a new $5 million fee, that is entirely different BS, yes.
Which are all majorly different than the pay for visa "gold" that are more common in other countries.
I don't know the specifics about what Trump is intending. If he's not just raising the investment threshold to $5 million but is actually instituting a new $5 million fee, that is entirely different BS, yes.
But yeah this is the crux of the issue, is it just an increase on min investment or is it a "give me the money here's your visa ty come again" instead.
Absolutely zero mention on the Conservative subreddit about how ridiculously silly and childish this card, which literally says “The Trump Card” on it, looks
Trump is never more relaxed and confident than when he’s pitching something. I think he ran again strictly to settle scores, because he sure as hell isn’t interested in governing.
Can we ban Trump and Musk posts? This used to be about awkward txt message screenshots or nutty dating app convos. This shit is just boring now we get that American politics sucks I don't need to keep getting reminded
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The one thing I want to ask him is who gets the $5M and what’s his cut?