Trump’s Gold Card Website is “Vaporware”: Investment Migration People in the News This Week

Dominic Volek of Henley & Partners

• Nuri Katz of Apex Capital Partners
• David Lesperance of Lesperance & Associates
• Ashok Kumar Adusumilli of EB5Resources.com
• Ellen Michaels
• Herman Legal Group
• Stuart Nash of Nash Kelly Global
• Marios Rafail of Henley & Partners
• Piyush Gupta of CanAm Enterprises
• Dominic Volek of Henley & Partners

Forbes – Trump Gold Card Website Is ‘A Joke’ That Raises Red Flags, Expert Says

The URL of the Trump Gold Card website—trumpcard.gov—is itself a red flag, Nuri Katz, founder of Apex Capital Partners, who has a 34-year career providing investment immigration guidance to ultra-high-net-worth clients, told Forbes, since “to apply for immigration status, you go through U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services,” and online visa and green card applications are processed through URLs that begin with with “uscis.gov.”

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“This is a joke. [The Trump administration] is asking very wealthy individuals to trust a one-page website that feels like it was created in five minutes by a teenager in his bedroom,” Katz said, calling the new website “lazy” and “amateurish.” He directed Forbes to compare the lack of information at Trumpcard.gov to the copious information available on the USCIS website about the U.S. government’s EB-5 immigration investment program. Although the new website carries the phrase “an official website of the United States government” twice, “it doesn’t look like it and it doesn’t inspire confidence that this is really an official American government website,” Katz said. “The new website may say ‘The Trump Card Is Coming,’ but the creation of this website does not at all indicate that the administration is moving forward in a serious way with implementation of the Gold Card,” Gelatt said. “I suspect that President Trump is very eager to promote this idea, but members of the administration at DHS and at the State Department may be pushing the brakes on how they could implement this. And so the creation of a Department of Commerce website is a way to pretend, basically, to be moving forward towards implementation.” Katz puts it more bluntly: “The scariest thing is it just seems like an attempt by the government to bamboozle people into registering with this website in order to build up a database of rich people.” Gelatt is inclined to agree, telling Forbes, “I think if somebody is interested in pursuing a Gold Card, they could just wait and see. There’s no reason why they would need to enter their information now. It seems like an unusual information gathering attempt.”

Mansion Global – Trump’s Gold Card Website Is Live. Why the Visa for the Rich Is Still a Long Way Off.

“There’s been a lot of marketing from the administration about this thing,” said Nuri Katz, an attorney based in Antigua and Barbuda, who specializes in investor immigration, about the program. “So far it’s only marketing. They’re warming up the market.” 

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That’s because a new immigration program and any related tax regulations can only be instituted via Congress—and neither appear to be on its radar at the moment. The tax component makes it extra tricky, said David Lesperance, a Canada-based immigration and tax expert with Lesperance and Associates. While Republicans, who control both houses of Congress and the White House, can conceivably pass an immigration law, a change in the Internal Revenue Act needs 60 votes in the Senate, which would require Democrats to play along.

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“If you don’t even introduce a bill, it’s a nonstarter,” Lesperance said. “And today there’s no immigration bill, no tax bill.”

Newsweek – Donald Trump Gold Card Visa Launches: What to Know

David Lesperance, the managing partner at Lesperance & Associates, told Newsweek: “No immigration bill introduced, so no product to sell. No tax bill to bring in territorial tax introduced, so no market even if immigration bill becomes law. There has been no sign of even an attempt at the legislative heavy lifting required to make the Trump Card a reality. With each passing ‘two weeks’ without even a single legally required step, this is increasingly being exposed as vaporware.”

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Ashok Kumar Adusumilli, the director of EB5Resources.com, told Newsweek: “The specifics of the Gold Card program remain unclear, and we are waiting for a proposal or bill from Congress or the Trump administration for more concrete details.”

Republic World – Trump Launches The Finally Awaited US ‘Gold Card’- Here’s All You Need To Know

“It’s not just a visa- it’s a message to the world that America is open for the wealthy,” said Ellen Michaels, an immigration expert in Washington D.C.

CBS News – President Trump touts $5 million “Trump card” on social media, says waitlist is open

However, there are questions about whether Mr. Trump has the authority to issue such cards because any new visa program must be approved by Congress through legislation, according to immigration law firm Herman Legal Group.

The Post – ‘Golden visa’ nets $25m investment in two months

Former Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash said that, while “golden visas” elsewhere were sought after by wealthy people looking for a tax haven, in New Zealand they sought a safe haven.

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Nash created the visa under the past Labour Government, but with tighter conditions than what it replaced to ensure value was added to Kiwi companies ‒ and not repatriated after the visa conditions were satisfied.

Greece City Times – ‘Golden Visa’ Program Sees Decline in Applications

Marios Rafail, head of Henley & Partners’ Geneva office, told Kathimerini that the perception of Greece’s Golden Visa program driving up rental prices is misguided.

Business Standard – Trump’s $5 million ‘Gold Card’ may succeed in India, but faces legal test

Piyush Gupta, vice president for India and the Middle East at CanAm Enterprises, said, “From its inception, the EB-5 program has been legislated by Congress, and under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA), it was reauthorised through September 30, 2027. Any changes to the program would require congressional approval.”

Newsweek – Donald Trump’s Gold Card Sees Rich Applicants Flock to ‘Red Carpet Visa’

Dominic Volek, group head of private clients at international investment migration advisory firm Henley & Partners, told Newsweek that interest has surged from affluent people in Asia.

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“We have already received genuine and committed interest from clients across our more than 60 offices worldwide, particularly UHNWIs in Asia, with affluent Indian and Bangladeshi nationals expressing a keen interest to apply at an exclusive event we held in Singapore last week,” Volek said.