Trump introduces 'gold cards'. Solution for Russian oligarchs

Donald Trump announced that he would start selling "golden cards" that would allow people to settle in the United States for $5 million. The US President stated that Russian oligarchs, among others, would be able to take advantage of the offer, and the proceeds would help reduce the budget deficit.

As announced by Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick , "gold cards" would be the equivalent of "green cards" , allowing for permanent settlement and obtaining citizenship in the future.

The new program is to replace the EB-5 investment visa, which allowed a person to obtain a green card after investing $1 million and creating 10 jobs.

- We will end the EB-5 program. We will replace it with the Trump gold card, which will really be a green card," Lutnick said. The condition for receiving it will be a $5 million payment to the state, which is to ultimately help reduce the budget deficit . Lutnick announced that applicants will be properly screened to be " great global, world-class citizens ."

Asked whether Russian oligarchs would be able to take advantage of the offer, Trump suggested that they would.

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- Yes, it's possible. I know some Russian oligarchs and they are very nice people (...) they are not as rich as they used to be, but I think they can afford 5 million. So many people will want to come to this country - the president announced.

Trump has promised that the "gold cards" will be available in as little as two weeks, although it is unclear whether the administration will be able to do so without an act of Congress.

Similar programs, called golden visas or golden passports, exist in a number of countries, including the European Union , although they are controversial. The most common buyers of these visas or passports are wealthy Chinese and Russians.

In 2018, a journalistic investigation in Hungary found that beneficiaries of golden visas included the family of the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service , Sergei Naryshkin , and other figures close to the Kremlin.