Just one person has so far been approved for President Donald Trump’s “Gold Card” Visa programme granting foreigners US residency in return for a non-refundable “gift” to the government, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Thursday.
Mr Lutnick, who has previously claimed to have sold 1,000 gold cards in a single day, told a House committee that hundreds more people had applied and were currently being vetted.
The President has promoted the Gold Card visa programme as a critical way of attracting wealthy talent to the US. When he first unveiled the card last year, he said he imagined more than a million people would buy one.
He has also claimed that so many people would buy a card that trillions of dollars could be wiped off America's vast debt.
Mr Lutnick did not reveal the identity of the sole applicant who had been approved. Applicants must go through “an extraordinary vet” and must pay a $15,000 processing fee, he said.
The Trump administration began accepting applications for the visa in December.
