US President Donald Trump has announced plans for an immigration ‘Gold Card’ which will replace the current EB-5 programme, which gives immigration privileges to people who invest between $8,00,000 (₹7 crore) and $1.05 million (₹9 crore) to create jobs depending on the areas they go to.

The move comes months after Trump ended the US birthright citizenship policy, the EB-5 visa programme emerged as a favourable option for a large number of moneyed Indians. 

What does ‘Gold Card’ mean for Indians?

Wealthy abroad aspirants can obtain a US Gold Card, which offers a path to US Citizenship for a $5 million (₹43.5 crore) fee.

Earlier, the rich Indians who qualified for EB-5 visas for US Greencards, now may not meet the stricter $5 million requirement for the US Gold Card.

The Gold Card “is going to give you green card privileges plus it’s going to be a route to citizenship”, said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday. 

It could deal with the uncertainty of H-1B work visas for professionals that are allocated through a lottery that top talent may miss out on, and the wait of decades for green cards that people from India have to endure.

The EB-5 programme is set to expire in 2027 when the five-year extension given to it by Congress in 2022 ends.

Lutnick called it a “low-price programme” and said, “It was full of nonsense, make-believe and fraud.”

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