Only one person has so far been approved for US President Donald Trump’s “gold card” visa programme, which is to grant foreign citizens 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 applied and were currently being vetted. Mr Trump has promoted the gold card 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 suggested the initiative would enable trillions of dollars to be wiped off America's vast debt.
Mr Lutnick did not reveal the identity of the sole applicant who had been approved. Those who apply to the scheme must go through “an extraordinary vet” and pay a $15,000 processing fee, he said.
The Trump administration began accepting applications for the visa in December.
