United States President Donald Trump has touted a new website for his planned US$5 million ($7.7 million) US residency permit, saying the waiting list for the ‘golden visa’ has opened.
“Thousands have been calling and asking how they can sign up to ride a beautiful road in gaining access to the Greatest Country and Market anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Thursday AEST.
Trump unveiled the first such visa aboard the Air Force One plane in April, holding a golden prototype that bore his face and promising the special permit would probably be available “in less than two weeks”.
A mock-up of the golden ‘Trump Card’, bearing Trump’s likeness, also appears on the website.
What is Trump’s gold card?
The US president has previously said the new card would be a “route to citizenship” — through not automatically confer it — and that “wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card”.
Much of the exact detail about how the plan would work has not been made clear.
The mock-up of the ‘Trump Card’ as it appears on the US government website. Source: Supplied / Trump Card website
The visas are not available yet, but the website announced on Thursday allows interested parties to submit their name, region, desired visa type and email address to be notified about them.
Trump previously said the new visa, a high-priced version of the traditional green card, would bring in job creators and could be used to reduce the US national deficit.
US secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick said the initiative would replace the EB-5 visa, which gives permanent residency to some foreigners who invest around US$1 million ($1.5 million) and create at least 10 full-time jobs in the US.
Announcement comes amid fury at immigration crackdown
The announcement comes as immigration raids are being ramped up across the country, prompting protests, and as Trump’s administration faces ongoing lawsuits and accusations of rights violations over its anti-immigration blitz.
Protests have erupted in Los Angeles, New York and other parts of the US over the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration raids. Source: Getty / Anadolu
Trump said in February that his administration hoped to sell “maybe a million” of the cards and did not rule out that Russian oligarchs may be eligible.
