President Donald Trump’s grand plan to sell multimillion-dollar visas in an effort to pay down the national debt is underway as Congress moves to make his dream a reality.
The billionaire businessman-turned-president pitched the unusual strategy for admitting immigrants last month and since then, plans for codifying the change are advancing in Congress, according to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who is working on companion legislation.
However, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) suggested to the Washington Examiner Thursday that Trump may be able to push his plan through without changing the law.
“It depends how the statute’s written. If it doesn’t require statutory change, it probably requires a rule of some kind. I don’t think you could probably just do it, unless the statute is written so broadly it gives the executive [branch] total discretion, which is possible. Congress does write stuff like that,” Hawley said.
How would it work?
The United States already has a pathway for immigrants outside the country who wish to invest and create jobs in return for admission, which is called the Employment-Based Visa (EB-5), according to Fernando Chang-Muy, Thomas O-Boyle Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.
The EB-5 visa was created by Congress in 1990 as the pathway for investors who promise to create jobs in the U.S. to obtain admission.
Trump’s pitch, which he first made in February, would go beyond that and create a “gold card” visa, akin to a platinum membership where, for the right price, someone could pay $5 million to purchase a card and, in turn, be admitted to the U.S. The EB-5 visa would be modified into this new proposed program, according to the White House.
“The existing immigration law would need to be amended as well as the regulation, to create this new pathway for lawful permanent residency and/or citizenship,” wrote Chang-Muy, an expert in refugee law and policy, in an email.
A White House aide told the Washington Examiner that it has yet to formally roll out the visa and did not give a timeline on when that is expected. The Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment on timing and logistics.
Is it legal?
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) told the Washington Examiner Thursday that the White House would “probably” need congressional approval if it wishes to rework the visa program “long-term,” but others are worried about how it could impact Americans.
Cyrus Mehta, an immigration attorney who runs Manhattan-based Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners PLLC, feared the gold card visa could come with unintended consequences.
“Donald Trump’s Gold Card would be most attractive to criminals and the corrupt,” Mehta wrote in a post to X.
Other countries have similar programs to that which Trump has pitched, but they have had varying levels of success, according to Shev Dalal-Dheini, American Immigration Lawyers Association’s senior director of government relations.
“Many countries have, in fact, attempted to limit the program either because of litigation or because of the impact on the local communities,” Dalal-Dheini said in a recent interview. “There is a lot of risk with these types of programs because you need to really carefully vet where the money is coming from and what the impact will be on American communities.”
Connor O’Brien, a researcher at the bipartisan public policy organization, the Economic Innovation Group, said the current system was ripe with problems and an overhaul was long overdue.
“We have had an EB-5 investor green card for 35 years. It’s ridiculously convoluted and bureaucratic, but it’s there,” O’Brien said. “A Gold Card Visa would be much simpler, easier to administer, and deliver clearer public benefits.”
Could it help pay down the national debt?
Trump stated in February that the gold card visas would be available for sale in roughly two weeks. Although the cards have not publicly been listed for sale, they do appear to be generating sales for the government behind the scenes.
Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick stated during an interview with All-In in DC last week that he had sold 1,000 gold card visas in a single day.
At a price of $5 million each, 1,000 sales in a single day comes out to $5 billion.
As of Thursday, the national debt stood at $36.5 trillion. Erasing even 1% of the national debt would require selling 730,000 gold card visas.
“I’m all for it, if we’re going to raise additional revenues,” said Hawley. “I think the American people ought to benefit from that. It should not go to bigger government.”
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Lankford said it would only be clear over time if enough visas can be sold to make a dent in the debt.
“We’ll see over time if that’s the tool,” said Lankford.
