Visas and the queue
Gold Card
Also called Trump Gold Card, Gold Card visa, Gold Card program, US Gold Card, Gold Card proposal.
The Gold Card is an expedited immigrant visa process created by Executive Order 14351 of 19 September 2025, under which an unrestricted gift of $1 million by an individual, or $2 million by a company on an individual's behalf, to the Department of Commerce is treated as evidence of eligibility for an existing EB-1 or EB-2 immigrant visa; it is not a new visa category and it is not EB-5.
What it decides
An executive order cannot amend a statute, so nothing in 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5) changes and this is not EB-5; section 3(f) only asks the agencies to consider extending the Gold Card to fifth preference later. The order runs on 15 U.S.C. 1522, the Commerce Secretary's power to accept gifts, and section 2(b) directs State and DHS to treat the gift as evidence of extraordinary ability under 1153(b)(1)(A), of exceptional business ability and national benefit under 1153(b)(2)(A), and of a national interest waiver under 1153(b)(2)(B), so the immigrant takes an EB-1 or EB-2 number and lives with the same numerical limits and per country cap under 1151 et seq. Section 5(c) creates no enforceable right. An applicant registers on trumpcard.gov first, and only after USCIS invites them files Form I-140G, edition 11/19/25, online only at $15,000 for each person including spouse and children, so a family of four pays $60,000. The route is under Administrative Procedure Act challenge in American Association of University Professors v. Department of Homeland Security, No. 1:26-cv-00300 (D.D.C.), filed 3 February 2026, with no ruling on the merits and no injunction.
Where this is explained properly
Pages here that go into gold card rather than mentioning it.
Related terms
- EB-2 national interest waiverA national interest waiver is a grant under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(2)(B)(i) that lets someone who already qualifies for the employment-based second preference self-petition on Form I-140, because USCIS has waived the job offer, and with it the labor certification, on the ground that the person's proposed endeavor serves the national interest.
- EB-5 Immigrant Investor ProgramEB-5 is the employment-based fifth preference immigrant visa category: a foreign national who invests the required capital in a new US commercial enterprise receives permanent residence, granted first on a two year conditional basis, and keeps it by proving that the investment created full-time jobs for at least ten qualifying US workers. It leads to residence, not citizenship.
- Form I-140Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, is the USCIS immigrant petition for the employment-based first, second and third preferences, covering extraordinary ability, outstanding researchers, multinational managers and executives, advanced degree and national interest waiver cases, skilled workers, professionals and other workers. An EB-5 investor never files it.
- Golden visaGolden visa is a colloquial name for a foreign residence by investment programme that grants residence in the country running it in return for a qualifying investment; it is not a term in United States law, it grants nothing in the United States, and the closest US equivalent is EB-5, which is bought with a real enterprise and ten jobs rather than with a payment.
- Citizenship by investmentCitizenship by investment is a scheme that grants a country's nationality, and its passport, in exchange for a set payment or investment; the United States runs no such scheme, and EB-5 buys conditional permanent residence, never citizenship.
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