Trump Gold Card: Requirements, Costs and Status in 2026

The Gold Card is not a new visa category. Congress has not passed any law creating it. Instead, Executive Order 14351 tells the Secretaries of Commerce, State and Homeland Security to treat an unrestricted gift to the Commerce Department under 15 U.S.C. 1522 as evidence of eligibility in three existing employment-based categories:^[1]

• EB-1A (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(1)(A), extraordinary ability);
• EB-2 "exceptional business ability and national benefit" (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(2)(A));
• EB-2 national interest waiver (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(2)(B)), which removes the need for a job offer and labour certification.

The order sets the gift at $1 million for an individual donating on their own behalf and $2 million for a corporation or similar entity donating on behalf of an individual. Gifts go into a separate Treasury fund that Commerce uses "to promote commerce and American industry".^[1] The order also asks the agencies to consider extending the program to the EB-5 investor category. That has not happened.

Three agencies share the work. Commerce runs trumpcard.gov and receives the gift. USCIS adjudicates the new Form I-140G, "Immigrant Petition for the Gold Card Program" (edition dated 19 November 2025, online filing only).^[3] The State Department issues the immigrant visa after a consular interview. Because the program borrows the EB-1 and EB-2 categories, it also inherits their annual numerical limits and per-country caps. The order itself says the program must work "consistent with ... the limits on the numbers of visas".^[1]

For the investor, the card leads to an ordinary green card. EB-1 and EB-2 are not conditional categories, so there is no two-year conditional period and no Form I-829 stage like the one in EB-5 residency by investment. The trade-off is that the $1 million is a gift. It is not an investment, it earns no return and it is never repaid.

The individual Gold Card is the route most readers mean when they search for the gold card visa $1 million. The applicant donates $1 million personally, and each accompanying spouse or child must also make a $1 million gift and pay their own $15,000 fee.^[2] A family of four therefore needs $4,060,000 before legal, travel and tax costs.

The order of payment matters. The $15,000 fee is paid first, when you register, and is not refunded whatever the outcome.^[3][16] The $1 million is only requested by email once DHS vetting is complete; USCIS form guidance says the funds must be available for transfer once the petition is approved.^[2][16] So an applicant who fails vetting loses the fee but not the gift. No refund mechanism has been announced for a gift already paid if the visa is later refused at the consulate or the program is struck down by a court.^[19] That gap is one of the program's biggest open risks.

Corporate Gold Card

The Corporate Gold Card lets an employer pay $2 million per employee. Its special feature is transferability. If the sponsored employee leaves the company and abandons that status, the employer can reassign the original gift to a new employee after a fresh background check. A 5% transfer fee and a 1% annual maintenance fee apply.^[2] The order describes the same mechanism in section 3(c).^[1] In practice, the card works like a reusable corporate visa slot. How the maintenance fee is calculated and collected has not been set out in any published rule.

The trump platinum card is listed on trumpcard.gov as "coming soon", with a waitlist and a $15,000 processing fee. The contribution is quoted at $5 million, but the site warns there is "no assurance" it will stay at that level. The pitch is that holders could spend up to 270 days a year in the US without paying US tax on non-US income. Anyone who has ever been subject to US tax on non-US income, such as US citizens and resident aliens, is excluded.^[2]

That tax promise cannot be delivered by executive order. US tax residence is set by the Internal Revenue Code: anyone present long enough under the substantial presence test, or holding a green card, is taxed on worldwide income. When the Platinum Card was announced in September 2025, officials accepted that it would need an Act of Congress.^[15] As of 2 October 2026 we found no enacted legislation. Reports at launch said that, unlike the Gold Card, the Platinum Card does not include a route to naturalisation.^[15] Joining the waitlist therefore secures nothing. Treat the $5 million price, the 270-day allowance and the tax treatment as proposals only.

The published trump gold card requirements are short.^[2][3]

• Admissibility. You must be admissible to the United States. The usual grounds of inadmissibility (criminal, security, health, prior immigration violations, misrepresentation) apply in full.
• Eligibility for permanent residence. No degree, business record, job offer, language test or minimum net worth is required beyond the gift itself.
• Lawful source of funds. You must document where the money came from and how it reaches the US. USCIS form guidance asks for proof that the funds for the gift were lawfully obtained.^[16]
• DHS vetting. Background and security screening, including biometrics, which Lutnick called "the most serious ... in the history of government".^[5]
• A visa number. An immigrant visa in EB-1 or EB-2 must be available for your country of chargeability. trumpcard.gov itself warns that "a small number of countries may have wait times of up to a year or more".^[2]

Who is effectively excluded

The visa-number rule is the hidden requirement. In the October 2026 Visa Bulletin, EB-1 final action dates are 1 February 2023 for India and 1 July 2023 for China. EB-2 is 1 November 2013 for India, 1 October 2021 for China and 1 January 2025 for all other countries.^[12] A Gold Card does not create extra visa numbers, so an Indian or Chinese applicant joins the same queue as everyone else.^[19] Applicants from most other countries can still benefit if they are placed in EB-1, which remains current.

A spouse and unmarried children under 21 can apply with the main applicant. Unlike EB-5, where one investment covers the whole family, each family member must make their own $1 million gift and pay their own $15,000 fee.^[2] USCIS guidance for corporate filings sets the principal at $2 million and each accompanying spouse or child at $1 million.^[16]

Minimum government outlay by household:

• Single applicant: $1,015,000
• Couple: $2,030,000
• Couple with two children under 21: $4,060,000
• Corporate employee with spouse: $3,030,000 plus corporate fees

Children who turn 21 before the visa is issued may lose derivative status, subject to the Child Status Protection Act. Parents, adult children and siblings are not covered. For a family, the Gold Card is far more expensive than the EB-5 investor green card, where a single $800,000 investment covers the investor, spouse and children under 21.

The trump gold card application runs through two websites and three agencies. Paper filings are rejected.^[3][4]

The main case is American Association of University Professors v. Department of Homeland Security, No. 1:26-cv-00300-RJL, in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, before Judge Richard J. Leon.^[9] It was filed on 3 February 2026 by the AAUP and six individual students and professionals with pending EB-2 petitions. They are represented by Democracy Defenders Fund, Public Citizen and Colombo & Hurd.^[11] The United Auto Workers joined through a first amended complaint filed on 18 May 2026 and announced the next day.^[9][10]

The plaintiffs argue that the program:

• exceeds the executive's statutory authority by turning merit-based EB-1 and EB-2 criteria into a payment test;
• conflicts with the Immigration and Nationality Act and with Congress's design of the EB-5 investor category;
• was adopted without the notice-and-comment rulemaking required by the Administrative Procedure Act;
• diverts scarce visa numbers and adjudicator time away from qualified applicants.

They ask the court to declare the program unlawful, set aside the DHS guidance and Form I-140G, and stop further implementation.^[11] The government's motion to dismiss (filed 28 April, renewed against the amended complaint on 25 June 2026) argued mainly that the plaintiffs lack standing; commentators note that the April brief avoided defending the program on the merits.^[8][9] No injunction has been issued and no merits ruling exists. A separate FOIA case, DDF v. DHS (No. 1:26-cv-01230), seeks program records.^[8]

What it means for you

A dismissal for lack of standing would not settle whether the program is lawful. Another plaintiff could sue, and a future administration could revoke the order without Congress. If a court later vacates the program, the position of people who have already paid the gift, or who hold green cards obtained through it, is untested. At least one prominent immigration attorney has said publicly that it would be unethical for him to take on Gold Card clients.^[18]

trumpcard.gov states the position plainly: Gold Card holders are taxed like any other permanent resident, on their worldwide income.^[2] Under the IRS green card test, you are a US resident for tax purposes if you are a lawful permanent resident at any time in the calendar year. If you do not also meet the substantial presence test, residency starts on the first day you are in the US as a green card holder.^[13] For an investor with foreign businesses, funds and real estate, this usually matters more than the $1 million gift.

• Income tax on global income, including foreign dividends, capital gains and business profits, with credits for foreign tax paid. Controlled foreign corporation and PFIC rules can tax undistributed income of foreign companies and funds.
• Reporting: FBAR for foreign accounts and FATCA (Form 8938) for foreign financial assets, with heavy penalties for non-filing.^[18]
• Estate and gift tax: a green card holder who becomes US-domiciled can fall within US estate and gift tax on worldwide assets. Take advice before moving, because pre-immigration planning such as trust structures and step-ups is far easier before the green card is issued.
• Exit tax: a long-term resident (a green card holder in at least 8 of the last 15 tax years) who gives up the card can be a "covered expatriate" if net worth is $2 million or more. Almost every Gold Card holder will cross that threshold. Covered expatriates are taxed as if they sold all their assets the day before leaving, above an exclusion of $910,000 for 2026.^[14][21]

Treaty tie-breaker rules can sometimes treat a green card holder as resident elsewhere. Claiming that can count toward ending long-term residency, so it needs specialist advice. Press reports through mid-2026 identify worldwide taxation as a main reason wealthy applicants have stayed away.^[18] That is exactly the gap the proposed Platinum Card was meant to fill.

A Gold Card ends in a standard 10-year green card. Because EB-1 and EB-2 are not conditional categories, there is no two-year probation or I-829 petition to remove conditions. To keep permanent residency you must actually make the US your home. Absences of more than six months invite questions at the border, and absences of a year or more without a re-entry permit generally mean the status is presumed abandoned. That makes the card a poor fit for investors who want a back-up residence they rarely use.

After the usual statutory residence period, a Gold Card holder can apply to naturalise on the same terms as any other green card holder. The program offers no shortcut here. Our separate guide to becoming a US citizen covers the naturalisation rules. To compare countries where residence leads to a second nationality sooner, see residency programs with the quickest naturalisation.

For most families the EB-5 green card through a regional centre project is cheaper and safer. An $800,000 at-risk investment covers the whole family and may be repaid. The program rests on legislation passed by Congress and has a track record of adjudications. Its drawbacks are job-creation risk, the two-year conditional green card and a longer, documented processing timeline. The 2027 CPI uplift is expected to raise the thresholds from 1 January 2027.

The E-2 treaty investor visa suits an entrepreneur who wants to run a US business with a much smaller budget. It never becomes a green card, and only treaty nationals qualify. Some investors first acquire a treaty nationality such as Grenada's investment program to unlock it.

The Gold Card's only real advantages are simplicity (no business plan, no jobs test) and, in theory, speed. Both depend on a program that has issued one confirmed approval and could be curtailed by a court or a future administration. It makes most sense for a single applicant who is not from India or China, is already planning to become a US tax resident, can treat $1 million as sunk, and values not running a business.

• Court ruling on the motion to dismiss in AAUP v. DHS. Briefing closed on 1 September 2026, so a decision could come at any time.^[9]
• Approval data. The only official figure is one approval (23 April 2026). Watch for congressional testimony or court declarations that update the 338 / 165 / 59 pipeline numbers.^[5][8]
• Visa Bulletin. FY2027 began with EB-2 "rest of world" retrogressed to 1 January 2025, which slows any Gold Card applicant placed in EB-2.^[12]
• Platinum Card legislation. Nothing enacted; the $5 million tier remains a waitlist.^[2][15]
• EB-5 changes that affect the comparison: new USCIS fees from 30 November 2026, the CPI uplift from 1 January 2027 and the regional centre sunset on 30 September 2027.^[17]

It may suit a single, high-net-worth applicant from a country where EB-1 is current, who intends to relocate to the US, has clean and well-documented wealth, accepts US worldwide taxation and can afford to lose $1 million if the program unravels. It may also suit a company that wants a transferable slot for senior staff and can absorb the $2 million gift and ongoing fees.

Look elsewhere if you have a family to move (EB-5 is several times cheaper), are Indian or Chinese (the backlog applies), want a residence you will rarely use, or cannot accept legal uncertainty. If what you want is a second residence rather than US tax residence, investor programs such as the UAE golden visa, Panama's qualified investor residency, the Cayman Islands residence by investment or Quebec's investor program may fit better. For the trade-offs between residence and a second nationality, see our CBI versus residency explainer.

• US EB-5 immigrant investor program: $800,000 at-risk investment in a targeted area, covers the family, statutory basis.
• E-2 investor visa: run your own US business; renewable, but no green card.
• Panama investor residency: real-estate and deposit routes, with qualifying rules revised in 2026 (see our Panama guide for current thresholds).
• Canada's Quebec investor stream: a guaranteed C$1 million five-year investment plus a C$200,000 non-refundable contribution.
• Mexico residency through financial solvency: lower budgets and close to the US.
• Uruguay investor residency and Costa Rica's $150,000 investor route for lifestyle-led moves in Latin America.

For a ranked view of lower-cost options, see the most affordable residency programs.