When President Donald Trump launched the “Gold Card” visa program last December, the official website promised U.S. residency in “record time.” A new court filing, however, suggests that applicants who pay $1 million for a Gold Card won’t get faster visas.
The Gold Card, touted as a new kind of investment visa that would raise revenue and attract tens of thousands of overseas millionaires and billionaires to the U.S., has been dogged by delays and legal questions. In December, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicted that the government would issue 80,000 Gold Cards and raise more than $100 billion in revenue.
Yet the Department of Homeland Security revealed in a legal filing last week that only 338 people have so far submitted requests for a Gold Card. Only 165 people have paid the $15,000 visa processing fee.
The court filing also contradicted the government’s previous statements on processing time. A key selling point for the Gold Card is rapid approval. The website promised visas in “record time” and “a matter of weeks.” The court filing said Gold Card applicants will not get special treatment or more rapid approval times than applicants for traditional visas.
“Gold Card applicants will not necessarily have their petitions adjudicated faster than any non-Gold-Card applicant,” DHS said in the filing.
Craig Becker, managing counsel for the Affirmative Litigation Democracy Defenders Fund, who is litigating a lawsuit against the Gold Card’s legality, said the contradiction stems from the program’s precarious legal standing. To attract interest, the White House had to promise a fast-track process. Yet to oppose the lawsuit, which claims the Gold Card displaces applicants for the government’s existing EB-1 and EB-2 programs, DHS contended that Gold Card applicants don’t get priority or any special treatment.
“We just don’t know what the real answer is because there is no transparency,” Becker said.
The Commerce Department and DHS declined to comment. Immigration attorneys said the program is still in its early days and could eventually become successful if it’s approved by Congress and builds a track record of approvals.
Yet the court filing is the latest challenge to a program that promised to cash in on the fast-growing business of investment visas for the world’s wealthy. More millionaires and billionaires are on the move than ever before. The number of millionaires expected to move to another country in 2026 reached 165,000, according to Henley & Partners. Geopolitical turmoil, tax hikes on the wealthy and political discord have driven more wealthy to seek backup plans and residency in other countries.
America remains a sought-after destination for the global elite. Its existing investment visa program, the EB-5, often has long waiting lists and backlogs. Trump sought to raise money from the demand by creating a new program, offering residency for a $1 million nonrefundable gift to the government.
Because only Congress can set immigration law, Trump created the Gold Card through executive order. It uses the existing visa categories, the EB-1 and EB-2, which are reserved for people with extraordinary abilities or of national interest. Under the Gold Card, the $1 million automatically qualifies an applicant as having a special or extraordinary ability.
The lawsuit from the American Association of University Professors claimed that since Congress limits number of EB-1 and EB-2 visas each year, the Gold Card program will crowd out EB-1 and EB-2 applicants and “result in qualified, merits-based applicants not being awarded visas.”
“The program is clearly unlawful,” Becker said.
In its response, DHS said the Gold Card program has no impact on EB-1 and EB-2 applicants, since there are more than enough visas and the Gold Card has its own dedicated processing staff.
The legal battle is one reason the overseas wealthy remain wary of the program. Immigration attorneys who specialize in investment visas said their high-net-worth clients don’t want to risk $1 million until the Gold Card is tested in the courts or approved by Congress. Confusion over the wait times will only add to their skepticism, they said.
“Without expedited processing, the Gold Card is unlikely to be attractive to individuals from countries with backlogs,” said Reaz Jafri, CEO of Dasein Advisors, a New York-based immigration consultancy. “With expedited processing, it would have been very attractive to all and a game changer.”
Attorneys said the troubled Gold Card program has only added to interest in the existing investment visa program, the EB-5, which has seen a surge in applications. The program provides U.S. residency in exchange for an investment of $800,000 to $1 million that creates at least 10 full-time jobs.
“International businesspeople can already access the U.S. through nonimmigrant visas that do not automatically expose their global wealth to U.S. tax,” said David Lesperance of Lesperance & Associates. “Those who are willing to become taxpayers can already gain green card status through the EB-5 program, which requires an investment rather than the donation.”
