Trump plans $5 million ‘golden visa’ for wealthy investors

US President Donald Trump is planning a new residency program offering a "golden visa" with a path to citizenship for investors willing to pay $5 million, replacing the 35-year-old EB-5 visa program.

“They’ll be wealthy and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it’s going to be extremely successful, Trump said, according to The Associated Press.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Trump golden visa will replace EB-5 visas—introduced by Congress in 1990 to encourage foreign investment—within two weeks.

The secretary added that the new visa will eliminate fraud and “nonsense” that, he claimed, have plagued the EB-5 program, while also offering a pathway to citizenship.

The current EB-5 program grants green cards to immigrant investors who commit a minimum investment in a US business.

Investment visas are common worldwide, with over 100 countries offering golden visas to affluent individuals, including the UK, Spain, Greece, Australia, Canada, and Italy, according to Henley & Partners.

In the 12 months to September 2022, nearly 8,000 people obtained investor visas in the US, based on the latest annual immigration statistics.

The new program would offer a legal immigration pathway amid Trump’s strict crackdown on undocumented migrants.