Overview
- The Department of Homeland Security disclosed in a court filing that only 338 people have requested a Gold Card, with 165 paying the $15,000 fee.
- The filing stated that Gold Card petitions will not be decided faster than standard applications in the same visa categories.
- The Gold Card offers U.S. residency in exchange for a $1 million nonrefundable contribution and repurposes EB-1 and EB-2 pathways reserved for top talent or national interest cases.
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had projected 80,000 cards and more than $100 billion in revenue, a target now at odds with the current application count.
- Immigration lawyers say wealthy clients are holding back until courts or Congress validate the program, and many are instead looking to the long-standing EB-5 investor route that requires job-creating investments.