The TOI correspondent from Washington: Wealthy people around the world can potentially buy their way to an American citizenship for $ 5 million (approx Rs 44 cr) per head under a “Gold Card” program US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday.
Trump stated that the Gold Card would be a deluxe version of the Green Card, which now grants permanent residency in the US to qualified foreigners, and that it would change the EB-5 card program, which allows foreigners to apply for Green Card if they invest around$ 1 million in the US.
” We’re gonna get selling a gold card. You have a green cards, this is a gold cards. We’re gonna be putting a price on that card of about$ 5 million and that’s gonna give you green card privileges plus …”, Trump said at a White House presser, providing sketchy details. ” It’s gonna get a path to citizenship. And by purchasing this card, rich persons will be entering our nation,” he continued.
The US President stated that there would be vetting involved in the process but did not specify when simply the system would take effect. He also suggested that the executive order from his office could be used to start the plan, even though the Congress has the power to appoint legislation that would require congressional approval.
Many countries around the world, somewhat some Atlantic nations, have similar applications for much less expense. St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda all have programs that offer direct citizenship for investments ranging from$ 200, 000 ( Rs 1.75 cr ) to$ 400, 000 ( Rs 3.4 cr ), as do Turkey, Jordan, and Egypt.
While all these countries have certain requirements for employment development or financial commitment, as does the US EB-5 card, Trump’s blandishment was thin on information. They will be powerful, they will be successful, they will be spending a lot of money, paying lots of taxes, and employing a lot of people, he predicted.
The idea that the plan was merely market US citizen to high-rollers and those looking to garden illicit money sprang up in the political spectrum. A Russian billionaire might be able to obtain a platinum card. one columnist asked Trump facetiously. ” Yeah, perhaps. Hey. The President retorted,” I know some Russian oligarch who are very wonderful”.
More than a million Indians, who are part of the so-called Green Card limbo, are among the minority groups in which fear their merit-based efforts to obtain green cards and citizenship, which have a waiting period of decades, will be impeded by uber-wealthy elites who are being fast tracked for$ 5 million.
However, Trump supporters are now discussing how it would help to reduce US bill. ” If just 200 rich people take this, that’s$ 1 BILLION”, one MAGA minion exulted on social media, while another calculated that at$ 5 Million per Card, 7 million Gold Card immigrants could pay off the national debt that now tops$ 36 trillion.
By all balances, that is a really long shot. The EB-5 system now caps visas at 10, 000 annually and even that control is often crossed.
