Trump's 'gold card' to sell US citizenship to millionaires

Wealthy foreigners seeking to relocate to the US will soon be able to do so by shelling out $5 million for “a Trump gold card.”

The new scheme to be rolled out in the first half of March will enable those with a shedload of ready cash to apply to become permanent residents of the US.

President Donald Trump told reporters that the initiative would bring America a “very high-level people,” adding that the money they would pay for the card would help address the country’s deficit.

The gold card will replace the current EB-5 immigrant investor visa which offers residency to those who invest at least $1.05 million in a job-creating start-up or inject slightly less into a rural or infrastructure project.

Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick branded the former EB-5 visa as “full of nonsense, make-believe and fraud,” adding that “it was a way to get a green card that was low price,” Reuters reports.

According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services website, however, the EB-5 was designed specifically to "stimulate the US economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors.”

The gold card appears to contain none of the caveats of the EB-5, instead providing a fast-track to citizenship for the super-rich.

“Wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card,” Trump told reporters the Oval Office, NPR reports.

“They'll be wealthy, and they'll be successful, and they'll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes,"

Asked if Russian oligarchs would be eligible for the scheme, Trump said, “Yeah, possibly. Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”

Addressing concerns, Lutnick has said that those applying will “have to go through vetting, of course to make sure they’re wonderful world-class global citizens.”

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