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One thing we know about President Donald Trump: He loves gold. His hotels, his golf clubs, his private living quarters, his proprietary high-top sneakers and coffee grounds—all of it is to some extent coated in the same opulent shade. Even the Oval Office is now distinctly more golden than it was during the Biden years. Now the president is taking his gold paintbrush to the nation’s immigration policies.
Enter the Trump Gold Card—not a credit card but a new pathway to immigration, offering wealthy foreigners a fast track to permanent residency in the United States. Launched on Friday by executive order alongside a restrictive new update to the H-1B program, the Trump Gold Card offers potential immigrants a trade: In exchange for $1 million plus processing fees, the government will give you an EB-1 or EB-2 visa. The administration is hoping to add an even more exclusive tier in the form of the $5 million Trump Platinum Card, which would give recipients 270 days’ residency in the U.S. with no tax on non-U.S. income.
The EB-1 and EB-2 are employment-based visas that have historically been reserved for foreigners of “extraordinary” and “exceptional” ability, among other highly qualified professionals; the number following EB denotes a recipient’s importance on the world stage. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services suggests that a Pulitzer Prize or an Olympic medal might be part of a winning EB-1 application (it seems to go to all-purpose celebrities, too, such as former supermodel Melania Trump); professionals with “advanced degrees” could consider applying for an EB-2. That the $1 million Trump Gold Card now qualifies as “sufficient evidence that the individual will substantially benefit the United States” suggests that this administration thinks personal riches are a superpower of their own.
The concept of a pay-to-play residency permit isn’t all that new. First instituted during the George H. W. Bush administration, the EB-5 visa is open to applicants who invest upwards of $800,000 into American businesses. It is far from a perfect program, and has been used as a vehicle for fraud, but its focus on investment in the American economy makes it decidedly different from the Trump Gold Card, which asks for an “unrestricted gift to the Department of Commerce” that the government can use as it sees fit. (Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick initially said that a Gold Card would replace the EB-5, but Friday’s executive order makes no mention of the program.) While the vestigial EB-5 asks for a direct injection of capital—Manhattan’s Hudson Yards was developed in part by EB-5 funds—the Department of Commerce will put its Gold Card war chest to work to “promote commerce and American industry,” which is a mandate is broad enough to encompass both new investment in public housing and also just paying off the government’s debt. In fact, Trump said on Friday that the Gold Card windfall will “generally” go to “pay down debt.”
Whether or not it intends to, the Trump Gold Card is saying something profound about what and whom the administration values in 2025. A lot fewer people have Olympic medals than have $1 million in their bank accounts. Still, the Trump Gold Card gestures at a world where the ability to generate (or simply inherit) money is enough to justify a shortcut to U.S. residency. Asked back in February about whether a Russian oligarch could apply for the planned Gold Card, Trump replied, “Yeah, possibly. Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”
The Gold Card’s premium presentation seems to double down on the promise of membership in an elite society. Its website looks almost like a tech start-up’s, with a sleek minimalist aesthetic courtesy of the National Design Studio, a federal initiative created by executive order last month and led by a co-founder of Airbnb, Tesla board member, and DOGE affiliate Joe Gebbia. A far cry from the typical sclerotic government site, trumpcard.gov invites visitors to begin their application for residency much as they might begin their application for a credit card, with just a few short questions; no onerous details required up front.
The American dream has always been at least partly financial. Here, you can plant your flag, start your business, and exercise your newfound freedom in a way that’s conducive to economic mobility. But the Trump Gold Card reformulates the dream as a toll. Secretary Lutnick reportedly affirmed that this new paradigm represents some shape of the future for American visas, although he wasn’t very specific. “In less than a month, the other visa green-card categories are likely to be suspended,” he said, per CBS News. “This will be the model” by which “people can come into the country.”
So much for “your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses”—this administration is more interested in those who have already hit it big.
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Today’s News
- ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show will return tomorrow night, less than a week after the show was suspended following backlash over Kimmel’s remarks about Charlie Kirk’s accused killer. The network said it made the decision after talks with Kimmel, calling his earlier comments “ill-timed and thus insensitive.”
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- The Wonder Reader: Isabel Fattal explores stories on how to be honest with yourself—and, by extension, with other people.
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Evening Read
People Are Getting Tattoos Under Anesthesia
By John Semley
Frank Charles, a pet-resort owner and former five-term mayor of St. Augustine, Florida, wanted a tattoo. He just wasn’t sure that he could take the pain. Then he started seeing advertisements for a place in Miami called Sedation Ink, which offers clients the attention of its licensed anesthesiologists. “You’ll enjoy a deep and peaceful sleep, allowing our artists to create breathtaking designs on your skin,” the studio’s website reads. “Join us and experience the future of tattooing, where pain is eliminated, and dreams become reality.”
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Culture Break
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Rafaela Jinich contributed to this newsletter.
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