President Donald J. Trump launched a new investor-style green card pathway under Executive Order 14351 and his administration is now positioning it as an alternative to the long-running EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, triggering a fight over whether the two tracks can exist side by side.
The Trump Gold Card program has moved from proposal to an active pathway, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services publishing a dedicated petition and the Department of Homeland Security outlining how the program draws from existing employment-based visa numbers.
The administration has framed the program as a faster, cleaner successor to EB-5, while investor-visa advocates and industry groups have responded by urging coexistence, arguing that only Congress can end EB-5.
Origins and Announcement
Trump created the program on September 19, 2025, signing Executive Order 14351 titled “The Trump Gold Card,” directing federal agencies to establish a pathway for foreign nationals making a “significant financial gift to the Nation.”
“My Administration has worked relentlessly to undo the disastrous immigration policies of the prior administration. I hereby announce the Gold Card. that will facilitate the entry of aliens who have demonstrated their ability and desire to advance the interests of the United States by voluntarily providing a significant financial gift to the Nation,” Trump said. “— President Donald J. Trump, Sept 19, 2025”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, speaking alongside Trump in the Oval Office that day, described EB-5 as “low priced,” “full of nonsense, make-believe, and fraud,” and said the Gold Card would effectively replace it.
Implementation Steps
USCIS took a concrete implementation step on December 10, 2025, publishing Form I-140G, described as “Immigrant Petition for the Gold Card Program,” a move that signaled the program was no longer theoretical.
“USCIS has posted a new form, I-140G, Immigrant Petition for the Gold Card Program. applicants must first register on trumpcard.gov and receive confirmation that their submission was accepted,” according to a USCIS Newsroom update dated Dec 10, 2025.
DHS confirmed on December 12, 2025 that the Gold Card pathway uses existing EB-1 (Extraordinary Ability) and EB-2 (National Interest Waiver) visa numbers to provide an “expedited” path following a $1 million contribution, a design choice that has become central to the debate over how the new program fits into the broader employment-based green card system.
Core Differences: Gold Card vs EB-5
The Gold Card’s core premise is a government-directed payment model: a direct “gift” to the U.S. Treasury or Commerce, rather than an investment in a job-creating project.
EB-5, by contrast, is built around a private investment structure tied to economic development and job creation, and that difference can reshape both due diligence and expectations about what happens to the funds after filing.
- The administration’s Gold Card model sets the contribution at $1 Million for an individual and $2 Million for a corporate applicant, with a $15,000 non-refundable DHS fee listed alongside the program.
- EB-5 is described with minimum investment levels of $800,000 (TEA) and $1.05 Million (Non-TEA), and fees described as variable, “typically $3,675+ for Form I-526E.”
- The Gold Card includes no requirement for job creation, while EB-5 is listed as requiring 10 full-time jobs required, a standard that drives monitoring and documentation.
- EB-5 is an investment model where a return of capital is expected; the Gold Card is framed as a gift model with no return of funds.
For applicants weighing options, the comparison with EB-5 goes beyond branding and into cost, risk, timing and the degree of legal certainty attached to each route, including how each pathway interacts with annual visa-number limits and processing steps already familiar to employment-based immigrants.
Some applicants have tracked the broader menu of options in pathways compared, as employers and investors reassess strategy.
Some investors have also compared investor categories more broadly, including EB-5 differences that can shape long-term planning.
Quota Sourcing, Tax, and Fiscal Impact
DHS’s choice to rely on “Repurposed EB-1 or EB-2 slots” for Gold Card approvals, rather than a dedicated allocation like EB-5’s “Dedicated EB-5 visa numbers,” has fueled concerns about how quota sourcing could affect other employment-based applicants.
Tax treatment is also presented as a differentiator. The Gold Card is listed as having “Potential for limited foreign-source tax,” while EB-5 is listed as “Subject to global U.S. taxation,” a distinction that may shape how some high-net-worth applicants structure timing and residency decisions.
The administration has highlighted early receipts as proof of demand. As of December 19, 2025, it claimed that over $1.5 billion in Gold Card “gifts” had already been received, a figure supporters point to as evidence of political momentum behind the program’s fiscal rationale.
Target Population and Market Impact
The target population described by the program’s promoters and observers includes high-net-worth individuals and major corporations seeking green cards for key employees without the administrative burden of project-based investments.
This market segment overlaps with EB-5 but does not fully replace it in function. Private advisory firms and immigration lawyers have been parsing the new program’s mechanics, including accounts of private clients seeking clearer expectations on timing and evidence.
Statutory Footing and Legal Challenges
The legal fault line is the difference in statutory footing. EB-5 is described as “authorized by Congress through September 30, 2027,” while the Gold Card exists solely via Executive Order, a contrast that can affect predictability across administrations and shape how courts view challenges to implementation choices.
That has fed a replacement-versus-coexistence fight. Advocates from the American Immigrant Investor Alliance (AIIA) and IIUSA argue that only Congress can abolish EB-5, rejecting the idea that a new executive-created route can simply wipe out a congressionally authorized program without legislative action.
Litigation risk hangs over the Gold Card’s structure as well. Legal experts warn that because the Gold Card bypasses traditional legislative processes and repurposes EB-1 and EB-2 quotas, it faces high risk of court challenges, which could mean delays, rule changes or paused intake that leave early filers waiting for clarity.
Practical Considerations for Applicants and Employers
For applicants weighing options, some face a choice between a $1M non-refundable “fast-track” and an $800k refundable investment that takes longer, with tradeoffs tied to speed, capital risk, and confidence in an executive-order structure for a life-changing immigration decision.
For current EB-5 investors, the pivotal operational concept is grandfathering. The framework described in the material says current EB-5 investors are protected by statutory grandfathering if they file their I-526E petitions before September 30, 2026, a deadline that can make filing date and document readiness decisive.
Document preparation remains a recurring theme across both programs, including source-of-funds records, corporate documents where relevant, and civil identity materials, assembled early to avoid missing a filing window.
The compliance burden also diverges sharply: the Gold Card includes no job-creation requirement, while EB-5 requires 10 full-time jobs, driving project monitoring and ongoing scrutiny tied to the underlying investment.
Operational Concerns and Monitoring
Those investors have voiced concern that processing could become a pressure point. The material describes “growing fear that the administration may ‘slow-walk’ EB-5 processing to encourage the more expensive Gold Card,” a claim tied to perceived incentives rather than a formal policy announcement.
People following the Gold Card rollout have watched for amendments to the executive order, USCIS form revisions to Form I-140G, and DHS guidance explaining how EB-1 and EB-2 visa numbers will be sourced and managed.
Monitoring has also become part of the strategy as EB-5 stakeholders press their case for coexistence ahead of upcoming congressional deadlines tied to EB-5’s authorization.
Verification and Official Sources
Verification, rather than rumor, remains central as the program develops. The White House publishes executive actions through its presidential actions page, while USCIS has posted a Gold Card form page at USCIS Form Updates and also referenced trumpcard.gov as the initial registration step before a petition can be filed.
USCIS also pointed applicants to its general forms library, linking the newsroom update to USCIS forms, which can be used to confirm whether a form is current and whether edition dates or filing addresses have changed.
Key Questions for Decision-Making
- How much can an applicant spend up front?
- How much legal and policy risk can the applicant tolerate?
- How quickly does the applicant need a green card pathway that is less tied to a private project’s job-creation proof?
Those questions, along with document readiness and timing, have driven applicants and employers to assess whether predictability and speed outweigh capital return and statutory durability.
Additional Resources and Context
Observers and businesses tracking DHS and USCIS operational timelines have looked to adjacent updates like (https://www.visaverge.com/documentation/post-shutdown-onboarding-and-e-verify-timelines-through-oct-14-2025/) as a reminder that implementation can shift quickly even after a program is publicly rolled out.
The debate has played out in more detail in discussions of whether the new program will replace EB-5, and in analyses of private-client interest in the new pathway at private clients.
Industry Reaction and Outlook
Even as the administration argues the Gold Card will modernize investor immigration, the split between a congressionally authorized investment program and an executive-order “gift” pathway has turned green card planning into a high-stakes choice about durability as much as dollars.
Lutnick’s description of EB-5 as “full of nonsense, make-believe, and fraud” still reverberates through the investor-visa industry, while EB-5 advocates press legal and legislative avenues to preserve the congressionally authorized program.
Trump’s Gold Card Complicates EB-5 Renewal as Advocates Seek Coexistence
The Trump Gold Card program introduces a $1 million non-refundable gift-based residency pathway. By repurposing EB-1 and EB-2 visa quotas, it offers an expedited route without the job-creation requirements of the EB-5 program. While the administration frames it as a cleaner successor, industry advocates argue that the congressionally authorized EB-5 must coexist, highlighting significant differences in legal durability, fiscal impact, and capital return expectations.
