A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high net worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
President Donald Trump’s proposed $5 million “gold card” for U.S. residency would be one the most expensive in the world, according to experts.
Yet it also includes a tax loophole that would give the new-card holders a lucrative benefit not available to American citizens, experts say.
Trump this week announced the creation of a new investment visa that gives the overseas wealthy permanent residency and a path to citizenship in return for $5 million. Attorneys who advise the wealthy on migration and investment visas say demand is already strong.
“The introduction of the gold card visa program represents a unique opportunity for high-net-worth individuals looking to secure U.S. residence with a pathway to citizenship,” said Dominic Volek, head of private clients at Henley & Partners. “The U.S. remains the undisputed leader in private wealth creation and accumulation.”
Volek and others who cater to the global rich say they’ve already fielded calls from clients wanting to purchase a Trump gold card. Approximately 135,000 of the world’s millionaires are projected to migrate to a new country in 2025, according to Henley. The United Arab Emirates and the U.S. typically top the list of destinations.
“I think it’s going to sell like crazy,” Trump said at his first Cabinet news conference Wednesday. “It’s a bargain.”
While the details remain unclear, the proposal would radically change the U.S. residency path for the global rich, who currently have to navigate a patchwork of programs with tight restrictions to stay in the country. It would also mark a major potential tax change for the global rich living in the U.S., carving out a new loophole for gold-card holders.
Currently, U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and green-card holders are required to pay income tax on their U.S. earnings as well as any income they earn overseas, including in their home country. The U.S. tax on worldwide income has traditionally made U.S. residency or citizenship far less attractive for the global rich, who have businesses spread across the world and often sheltered in tax havens.
Trump said gold-card holders would not be subject to taxes on their overseas income. The provision means that gold-card residents will be able to purchase a tax benefit not available to U.S. citizens. Advisors say they’re waiting on clearer directives, since the program could create dual classes of taxpayers among the American wealthy.
Yet the international income carve-out makes it far more attractive to the world’s ultra-wealthy.
“This would be a big departure” in tax treatment, said Laura Foote Reiff, an attorney at Greenberg Traurig who specializes in business immigration. “There are many wealthy individuals who are invested in U.S. companies or have families here that do not become permanent residents because they don’t want the tax consequences.”
The tax loophole is one reason the government can charge a premium for the gold card. At $5 million, the program would be among the most expensive in the world. Volek said Singapore’s Global Investor Program requires an investment of 10 million Singapore dollars, or about $7.5 million. New Zealand’s most expensive program requires an investment of up to 10 million New Zealand dollars, or about $5.7 million.
Most investment visa programs around the world cost less than $1 million, attorneys say.
About 100 countries offer some type of investment visa program, with about 60 jurisdictions actively promoting their programs, according to Henley. Roughly 30 programs dominate the $20 billion a year investment migration business, with Malta, the UAE, Portugal, Italy and several jurisdictions in the Caribbean being the most popular.
At Wednesday’s news conference, Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the U.S. gold card would replace the current investment visa program, called EB-5, which offers green cards to those who invest at least $900,000 or $1.8 million, depending on the area and project. The EB-5 program been plagued by delays and a history of fraud and abuse. The program was renewed by Congress in 2022 with major changes that required the investments to be channeled to more rural, poor areas and to infrastructure projects.
When it comes to applicants, China has been far and away the largest source of those seeking EB-5 visas, with Taiwan, Vietnam and India also ranking high. The U.S. issued just more than 12,000 EB-5 visas last year, with two-thirds going to Chinese nationals, according to the State Department.
The wealthy Chinese are also the dominant users of investment visa programs around the world, including in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
While Trump said the U.S. could sell a million gold cards, attorneys say the likely demand is a fraction of that total – perhaps thousands but not hundreds of thousands. There are about 424,000 people in the world worth $30 million or more, with 148,000 of them in the U.S., leaving about 277,000 overseas ultra-wealthy who could reasonably afford the program.
Yet only a small fraction of them would likely apply to live in the U.S., immigration attorneys say. Last year, the U.S. had a net inflow of about 3,800 millionaires according to Henley.
“Hundreds of thousands sounds high,” Foote Reiff said. “There may be businesses that would pay to bring in top talent, like research scientists that they want to bring here and not be subject to quotas.”
One big draw of the new program is tax benefits. Historically, permanent residents in the U.S. have to pay income tax on their U.S. earnings as well as any income they earn overseas, including in their home country. The U.S. tax on worldwide income makes it far less attractive for the global rich who have businesses spread across the world and often sheltered in tax havens.
Trump said he expects the biggest demand will be from companies (especially in tech, like Apple) seeking to hire top college graduates in the U.S. who come from India, China or other countries but can’t get proper visas.
