President Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled the “gold card”, which, like permanent residency cards, will give immigrants a route to US citizenship, but at a price tag of $1 million.
Mr Trump said the programme would give wealthy people and corporations incentives to move to America, invest, pay taxes and create US jobs.
He said the scheme would enable large companies to hire and keep qualified candidates in the country.
“All funds go to the United States' government,” he said during a round table event in the White House. “It could be a tremendous amount of money.”
The official website said the gold card is “a visa based upon an individual’s ability to provide a substantial benefit to the United States”.
The cards resemble US green cards, which are normally obtained by sponsorship through work, a relative or by marriage.
“Basically, it's a green card, but much better, much more powerful, a much stronger path,” Mr Trump. It was “so needed” by large companies, he added,
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday said the gold card would cost $1 million for individuals and $2 million for corporations. It would also include a non refundable $15,000 processing fee.
“Full betting the best vetting the government has ever done – $15,000 vetting – to make sure these people absolutely qualify to be in America, absolutely then the company can keep them here, and they have a path to citizenship,” Mr Lutnick said.
The gold card website said that once the processing fee and application is received, the process would take weeks.
There is also a wait list for a “platinum card” that, for a $5 million contribution, would give the ability to individuals to spend up to 270 days in the country without being subject to taxes on income coming from abroad.
Mr Trump, who has decorated the Oval Office in gold accents, floated the idea of the cards back in February.
At the time, officials said the new cards would replace the EB-5 investor visas.
The EB-5s was created by Congress in 1990 to generate foreign investment and is available to people who spend about $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people.
Mr Lutnick at the time said the gold card would raise the price of admission for investors and do away with the fraud and “nonsense” that he said characterise the EB-5 programme.
Mr Trump, who began his second term in office in January, has made reducing immigration a main focus of his policy goals.
His administration has launched a massive deportation campaign of undocumented people and slashed foreign worker visa programmes, saying they undermine US security and take away American jobs.
Deportations have been particularly directed at undocumented migrants from all over the world. The Trump administration has also ended Temporary Protected Status for tens of thousands of people, putting them at risk of deportation.
