The Trump administration’s proposed ‘ Gold Card’ visa program, aimed at granting US citizenship to ultra-wealthy individuals investing $5 million, has missed its promised launch deadline. Despite early claims of a rollout, no official website or documentation has emerged, raising skepticism about the program’s existence, according to a report by Forbes.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had earlier said the program would go live within a week. That deadline has now passed. Lutnick also claimed to have sold Gold Card visas during a recent trip to the Middle East, stating in an earlier interview that he secured 1,000 sign-ups in a single day.
Experts remain unconvinced. Nuri Katz, founder of Apex Capital Partners, told Forbes that such programs face major challenges. “In my 34 years of experience, I have rarely seen anybody spend more than 10% of their net worth on an immigration program, and generally it's more like 5%. So you've got to be worth $100 million in order to be able to afford this,” Katz said.
He further added that the number of people able and willing to invest such an amount is small. Even if the program is launched, Katz said, “It won’t be a million people and it won’t be even 200,000.” Commenting on the current status of the proposal, Katz said, “It looks to me like they’re backpedaling. Now they have to make a decision of whether or not there really is the interest, because they are going to have to expend a lot of political capital in order to get this done.”
Katz also warned that high-net-worth individuals would be cautious about joining unless there is more clarity. “We don't know where that information is going to go and who's going to use it. Will it be used only by the US government? Could it maybe be sold to private businesses? It’s going to be a pretty powerful database of rich people.”
In the recent past, billionaire Elon Musk had mentioned he was conducting a quiet trial of the program, but there has been no further update as he returned to his business interests. The absence of official confirmation or infrastructure has left many questioning if the Gold Card visa plan is real or still under development.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had earlier said the program would go live within a week. That deadline has now passed. Lutnick also claimed to have sold Gold Card visas during a recent trip to the Middle East, stating in an earlier interview that he secured 1,000 sign-ups in a single day.
Experts remain unconvinced. Nuri Katz, founder of Apex Capital Partners, told Forbes that such programs face major challenges. “In my 34 years of experience, I have rarely seen anybody spend more than 10% of their net worth on an immigration program, and generally it's more like 5%. So you've got to be worth $100 million in order to be able to afford this,” Katz said.
He further added that the number of people able and willing to invest such an amount is small. Even if the program is launched, Katz said, “It won’t be a million people and it won’t be even 200,000.” Commenting on the current status of the proposal, Katz said, “It looks to me like they’re backpedaling. Now they have to make a decision of whether or not there really is the interest, because they are going to have to expend a lot of political capital in order to get this done.”
Katz also warned that high-net-worth individuals would be cautious about joining unless there is more clarity. “We don't know where that information is going to go and who's going to use it. Will it be used only by the US government? Could it maybe be sold to private businesses? It’s going to be a pretty powerful database of rich people.”
In the recent past, billionaire Elon Musk had mentioned he was conducting a quiet trial of the program, but there has been no further update as he returned to his business interests. The absence of official confirmation or infrastructure has left many questioning if the Gold Card visa plan is real or still under development.
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