The White House rolled out its Gold Card initiative, intended to attract high asset investors to the United States.
Longstanding visa policies are undergoing significant changes as the administration reworks how and who is authorized to enter the U.S. to live and work. In recent days, President Trump announced updates to the H-B1 visa and introduced a new Gold Card that could eventually replace EB-1 and EB-2 visas. What are these visas and how do they work?
Sticker shock for immigration visas
The Gold Card
In September, the administration introduced a new investment-class visa aimed at high-net-worth individuals. As noted in Politico, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, said “We were taking in the bottom quartile. We are going to stop doing that. We are going to only take extraordinary people at the very top, instead of people trying to take the jobs from Americans.” The $1 million application fee is a reduction from the original $5 million sticker price.
The cost of the Gold Card is a $1 million “unrestricted gift.” This “gift” makes the donor eligible for a fast-track visa application. The fee is not refundable, nor are other investment monies required as a condition. The announcement clarified earlier speculation that the U.S. Gold Visa would give buyers a pass on paying U.S. taxes. Purchasers of the Gold Card will be required to pay U.S. taxes and may be required to pay U.S. taxes on foreign holdings, depending on their residency status. The Trump administration has proposed that the Gold Card program eventually replace all current green card visas.
H-1B Visas
These visas are used extensively to import qualified workers in many industries, include high tech. H-1B visas can cost upward of $10,000 in fees associated with the onboarding of an employee by a sponsoring company or entity. According to media reports, Amazon alone sponsors 10,000 H-1B workers. The visas provide an initial term in the United States of three years, with the possibility of extension to six years.
While current H-1B visa holders would be exempt, the new cost of the visa will be $100,000 per worker. H-1B visas have frequently provided a landing pad for skilled and talented workers who come the US and eventually start businesses of their own. Lutnik said, “Stop the nonsense of letting people just come into this country on these visas that were given away for free.”
EB-1 and EB-2 Visas
EB-1 and EB-2 visas offer a path to permanent residency for "preference immigrants". The visas are held by foreign applicants with “extraordinary ability” in fields including science, education, business, the arts and others. EB-1 denotes a first priority immigrant, while EB-2 is considered an immigrant of high ability with advanced training or degrees, among other qualities. As noted, EB visas may be targeted for replacement by the administration in favor of Gold Card visas.
The sky-high fees associated with these revamped visas have been described by President Trump as a way to lower the federal debt and raise substantial revenue for the United States. While immigration policy is traditionally set by Congress, not the president, legal challenges to any policy changes are possible. In the meantime, foreign investors await opening day for applications.
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