Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Monday that nearly 70,000 people have signed up for President Donald Trump’s gold card visa, which will grant foreigners legal residency in the U.S. for a $5 million investment.
On Monday morning, Lutnick said his department’s internal online dashboard showed 67,697 people on the waiting list. Within an hour, the number jumped to 68,703, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.
“The card will be made of gold,” Lutnick told the Financial Times. “It will be beautiful. Donald Trump appreciates these kinds of things. He cares about how it looks. He cares about how it feels.
“I mean, he deeply cares about that and thinks if you’re going to buy and make this investment in America, we should give you something that is beautiful.”
The chief executive of a global technology company who asked not to be named told the Financial Times through a spokesperson that his group would seek to buy more than 100 gold cards if the program comes to “fruition,” adding he viewed the initiative as a way “to welcome the world’s best and brightest to the United States — particularly entrepreneurs, engineers, and scientists.”
The White House still needs to determine key details about the program, including the design of a special tax structure for gold card holders, the Financial Times reported. Although the vetting of applicants is expected to be done by the departments of Homeland Security, State, and Commerce, Trump has not decided whether citizens of any particular countries would be excluded from applying. Trump has banned travel to the U.S. from a dozen nations and is reportedly considering others.
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Author: Faith Novak
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