For Indians wondering what it would cost to fast-track a move to the United States, President Donald Trump has now put a clear price on the dream.
The US administration on Wednesday formally rolled out what it calls the “Trump Gold Card”, a visa pathway that promises expedited residency for non-US citizens willing to pay for speed, certainty and status.
At the heart of the scheme is a simple proposition. If you pay more you can stay quicker. The official website Trumpcard.gov has an “apply now” button and lets applicants pay a USD 15,000 processing fee to the Department of Homeland Security.
That is just the opening charge. Once background checks are cleared, they must make a USD 1 million “contribution”, described alternately as a “gift”, to secure a visa akin to a Green Card, offering the right to live and work in America.
“Basically it’s a Green Card, but much better. Much more powerful, a much stronger path,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “A path is a big deal. Have to be great people.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said interest is already surging, with 10,000 pre-registrations logged before the formal launch.
He expects “thousands” more to follow, projecting that the programme could raise “billions, billions of dollars” for the US Treasury.
The administration is presenting the Gold Card as a counterweight to its own major immigration crackdown that has led to hundreds of thousands of undocumented residents being deported and has added new hurdles even for legal immigration.
Lutnick argued that Gold Card holders would strengthen the economy, contrasting them with “average” Green Card recipients, whom he claimed earned less than the average American and were more likely to receive public assistance. He offered no evidence for those assertions.
There is also a corporate version of the Gold Card, allowing companies to obtain expedited visas for employees at USD 2 million per worker, an option aimed squarely at America’s most powerful employers.
Trump presented the scheme as a solution to what he sees as a long-standing problem.
According to him many bright young graduates, especially from India and China, finish degrees at top US universities but are then forced to return home because of strict visa rules.
He called it a “shame” that companies cannot keep such talent and said the Gold Card would let firms “buy” certainty.
Flanked by IBM’s Indian-American CEO Arvind Krishna and Dell Technologies chief Michael Dell, Trump said companies like Apple have repeatedly told him that they hesitate to recruit from elite institutions such as Harvard, MIT and Wharton because they “don’t know whether or not you can keep the person”.
“You graduate number one from your college, and there’s no way of guaranteeing… that they’re able to stay in the country,” he said, recalling conversations with Apple CEO Tim Cook. “It’s not going to be a problem anymore… We solved that.”
The president claimed the Gold Card would bring in “many billions of dollars”, adding that the money would be funnelled back into the country. “It’ll be a great thing,” he said.
The official website promises “US residency in record time” once the USD 15,000 processing fee and USD 1 million contribution are paid and approved.
For Indians eyeing the American dream, the numbers speak for themselves. A personal Gold Card would cost USD 1,015,000 which is roughly Rs 9.1 crore.
A corporate sponsored card would cost USD 2 million which comes to about Rs 18 crore if a company wants to keep them on American soil.
The price of certainty in Trump’s America has never been clearer. Or costlier.