US President Donald Trump said it is a “shame” that students from countries such as India and China must return home after graduating from top American universities, while promoting a new “Trump Gold Card” visa program intended to allow companies to hire and retain that talent in the United States.
On Wednesday, Trump announced the launch of the one million dollar Trump Gold Card, a visa pathway tied to an individual’s ability to provide a substantial benefit to the United States. Speaking at a White House roundtable, he said many high-achieving graduates cannot be guaranteed a way to remain in the country after finishing college and described the situation as “ridiculous.”
Flanked by IBM CEO Arvind Krishna and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, Trump said the Gold Card website is live and that companies could “buy” the card to keep students they hire from top American schools such as Wharton, Harvard and MIT. He said he had heard from Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives that they often cannot hire top graduates because their ability to stay in the U.S. is uncertain.
“It is a gift of getting somebody great coming into our country, because we think these will be some tremendous people that wouldn’t be allowed to stay,” Trump said, adding that the policy will prevent firms from sending recruits to other countries such as Canada. He also suggested the program would raise significant revenue for the country.
Trump described the Gold Card as “a Green Card, but much better, much more powerful,” offering a stronger path that will help companies retain top hires. He said companies could go to elite schools, identify top students and buy a card so those employees “can be there for essentially a very long period of time.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick provided additional details, saying the card would cost $1 million for an individual and $2 million for a corporation, and would include “full” vetting to ensure recipients “absolutely qualify to be in America.” He said cardholders would have a path to citizenship after five years and that corporations could replace the person on a corporate card by putting someone else on it later.
Lutnick said the Gold Card would operate within already approved visa categories to ensure only the “great people” come to the U.S. He argued that average green card holders historically earned less than the average American and were more likely to use federal assistance, and said the Gold Card was intended to bring in higher-quality immigrants.
The administration also launched trumpcard.gov, which includes an application and promises “US residency in record time.” The site states that, in addition to the $1 million contribution (after background approval), there is a $15,000 DHS processing fee for expedited residency through the Trump Gold Card.
