Trump Gold Card visa program to launch online within weeks, commerce secretary says

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday that the Trump Gold Card, which makes it possible for any foreigner to buy a visa for $5 million, will be available online within weeks.

Lutnick was a guest at Axios’ streamed event, Building the Future, Wednesday, where he was interviewed by company co-founder Mike Allen about several topics, including President Donald Trump’s offering of a Gold Card.

In March, Trump said the Gold Card would go on sale "very, very soon," explaining it would be like a green card, "but better and more sophisticated." He said the newest path to citizenship in the U.S. would allow the "most successful job-creating people from all over the world to buy a path to citizenship."

Allen asked Lutnick when the $5 million Gold Card would be available, and Lutnick said he expected a website called trumpcard.gov to be up and running in about a week.

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"The details of that will come soon after, but people can start to register. And all that will come over a matter of the next weeks — not month, weeks," Lutnick said.

He also shared a story about a recent "great dinner" in the Middle East with about 400 people.

During the dinner, Lutnick said, he had his phone out when one of the senior leaders walked by and asked why his phone was out.

"I go, ‘I am selling him cards,’" Lutnick said. "So, basically everyone I meet who’s not an American is going to want to buy the card if they have the fiscal capacity."

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He acknowledged that not everyone will be able to afford a Gold Card, but it will be available to those who can afford to help America pay off its debt.

"Why wouldn’t they want a plan B that says God forbid something bad happens, you come to the airport in America and the person in immigration says, ‘Welcome home.’ Right? As opposed to, ‘Where the heck am I going if something bad’s happening in my country,’" Lutnick continued. 

He noted that everyone will be vetted for a card, adding those who come in with $5 million for a visa are going to be "great people who are going to come and bring businesses and opportunity to America. And they’re going to pay $5 million."

Lutnick offered one more hypothetical scenario, saying if 200,000 people purchase the Gold Card for $5 million, that's $1 trillion.

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"Remember, we get 280,000 visas per year now for free, not counting the 20 million people who broke into this country for nothing under Biden," Lutnick said. "And, so, I want you to think about that. We give it away for free and said Donald Trump’s gonna bring in a trillion dollars for what purpose? To make America better. And it makes perfect sense to me."

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Trump has previously touted his plan before to attract the world’s wealthiest to become U.S. citizens, though it comes at a time when he is both clamping down on illegal migration and as universities are increasingly in the spotlight amid soaring school costs and crippling student loans. 

After Trump’s announcement in March, Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation's Border Security and Immigration Center, warned it could invite fraud.

"Any immigration benefit draws fraud. … People are willing to do anything and say just about anything to come to the U.S.," Ries told Fox News Digital. 

In an interview in February with Fox News’ Chief Political Anchor Bret Baier on "Special Report," Lutnick said all candidates will be "deeply vetted."

"These are vetted people," Lutnick told Baier. "These are going to be great global citizens who are going to bring entrepreneurial spirit, capacity and growth to America. If one of them comes in, think of the jobs they are going to bring with them, the businesses they are going to bring with them, and they are going to pay American taxes as well. So, this is huge money for America."

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.