All that glitters: Trump launches Gold Card in a bid to expedite visas for hefty fee

Washington DC [US], December 11 (ANI): US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) launched the Trump Gold Card, which offers more benefits than a green card.

Trump announced at a roundtable event that his "gold card" immigration policy, which the President said would fast-track visas for certain immigrants in exchange for a hefty fee, is officially launching on Wednesday.

"Very excitingly, for me and for the country, we've just launched the Trump gold card. About 30 minutes from now, the site goes up and all funds go to the United States government," the president said.

"It's somewhat like a green card, but with big advantages over a green card. Companies will be able to go to any school, buy a card, and keep that person in the United States... It's a gift to get somebody great coming into our country, because we think there will be some tremendous people who otherwise wouldn't have been allowed to stay. They graduate from college, they have to go back to India or China or France... The companies will be very happy. I know Apple is going to be happy. Nobody talked to me more about it than Tim Cook. He said it's a real problem. And it's not going to be a problem anymore... The other thing is it'll take in, we think, probably billions of dollars that will go to the Treasury of the United States... Many billions of dollars, even," he said.

The president previewed the gold card immigration program first in February and then signed an executive order in September calling on his administration to establish an application for the gold card, as per CNN.

The new pathway will allow foreigners to pay USD 1 million to expedite their visa application, or have companies pay USD 2 million to sponsor a foreign worker they want to bring into the US.

The new "gold card" visa program was first proposed in February by Trump, as per CNN.

"We're going to be putting a price on that card of about USD 5 million and that's going to give you green card privileges, plus it's going to be a route to citizenship. And wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card," Trump said from the Oval Office in February. (ANI)

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