Trump's Gold Card Visa Program Approves Only 1 Applicant Despite $1.3B Sales Claims

Gate News message, April 25 — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed in congressional testimony that the Trump administration's "Gold Card" visa program has approved only one applicant to date. The program, positioned as an alternative to the traditional EB-5 investment immigration visa, requires foreign nationals to pay at least $1 million to obtain U.S. legal residency, work authorization, and an eventual path to citizenship.

Lutnick had previously claimed that the Gold Card program had sold $1.3 billion in visa allocations and projected it could generate $1 trillion in future revenue to help address the U.S. fiscal deficit. However, during the hearing, he acknowledged that only one applicant has been formally approved, while several hundred applications remain under review.