Curious about the real story behind the so-called “Trump Gold Card” and whether you can actually buy your way to a U.S. green card for $5 million?

In this episode, Rosanna cuts through the headlines and hype to reveal the truth about immigration laws, presidential powers, and why the flashy promises often don’t hold up under legal scrutiny. She breaks down what’s actually possible for investors and immigrants today, exposing the complexities of the U.S. immigration system and offering practical alternatives that really work.

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Transcript

Everyone’s talking about U.S. immigration law, but nobody really knows how it works. I’m Rosanna Berardi. I’m the daughter of an immigrant, a former immigration inspector at the border, university professor, and founder and managing partner of Berardi Immigration Law.

I’ve done nothing but U.S. immigration law for over 30 years, and it’s time to stop the misinformation on all sides. I’m going to tell you how it all works, the inside story. This is Immigration Weekly with Rosanna Berardi.

The Trump Gold Card: Fact or Fiction?

Hello, and welcome back to Immigration Weekly with Rosanna Berardi. I’m your humble host, and we’re going to talk today about the Trump gold card. Now, I don’t know if you’ve been following the headlines in the news, but back in February, President Trump announced that he was going to issue and allow green cards, or his version, the gold card, to be purchased for $5 million.

And if he sold a lot of them, he could wipe out the national debt. The numbers part? Yeah, that sounds really good to me.

Let’s unpack what this really means. So, first thing, green card hasn’t been green in years. The government has to keep changing the color of it.

It’s been peach, it’s been pink, it’s been yellow, because the counterfeiters just keep, you know, going after it, recreating it. So anyway, it’s a lot of different colors, but it’s known as a green card. What does that mean?

It means the ability to live and remain in the U.S. permanently, meaning you can live here. This is most people’s American dream. Almost as good as citizenship, except you can’t vote in the political system.

Nonetheless, you can’t buy a green card right now. You have to go through a long, arduous, expensive process that thousands of my clients have done over the years to actually obtain that status. But nonetheless, what is this Trump gold card?

Now, just remember, in office, the commander of chief, the president of the United States. I’d like to say we have got the chief marketing officer running America. He knows a thing or two about sound bites, business, keeping immigration front and center.

Why? Because this administration was elected based on immigration. So what’s this card?

Well, proposed 5 million bucks in exchange for permanent residency. Doesn’t require business investment. Doesn’t require job creation.

Just pay the government. They give it to you. Now, it’s marked as a replacement for another category called the EB-5, which I’ll talk about in a minute.

They’re saying companies could potentially buy these for their key employees. It promises the green card, the ability to live and work in the U.S. forever, plus some tax exemptions. And also, they’re not going to just give this to anybody.

They’re promising high vetting and screening. So is this a new concept? No.

Lots of countries have done this pay to play. It’s been done in Portugal, Spain. They offer golden visas for real estate or business investment.

Malta and Cyprus. Now, these are tiny little countries, the size of Rhode Island, not the United States of America, offer direct citizenship for investment. Even Canada, our neighbors to the north, had its investor visa program, but shut it down because it just wasn’t delivering the economic value.

Why It’s Unlikely to Happen

So these programs are really, really popular globally, but they’re controversial and they are always heavily scrutinized. So the big question here, there’s a website out. You can log in and get information and be put on the wait list for this green card or gold card.

It actually has a picture of President Trump. Very modest. Very modest.

Is it legal? No. No.

Why? Why can’t the Trump administration do this? Okay, let’s just take a pause and let’s think back to Schoolhouse Rock.

If you’re old enough, remember three branches of government. I feel like I can have this on my tombstone because I talk about it every day. Executive branch, president, right?

In charge of the country. Legislative branch, number two. Guess what?

They’re called Congress and they make the laws. They make them. The United States Constitution puts that power squarely in Congress between the Senate and the House of Representatives.

And then branch three, the judiciary, the court system. Can a president make a green card law? No.

Why? That’s Congress’s job. Have we heard a peep from Congress since January 20th of 2025?

No. Not a peep. Why?

Because Congress doesn’t do anything. Why? My humble host opinion, they’re all bought off.

Anyway, without congressional action, this card has no standing, meaning no way it’s going to happen. Now, there is a provision of the law called the EB-5 program. That is in the Immigration and Nationality Act that long ago was created by Congress and said, look, foreign nationals, if you want to invest money in the U.S. and create jobs in economically deprived and underserved areas, we’ll give you a green card. It’s been around for a long time. And guess what? It’s been widely abused.

Just in 2022, three years ago, Congress revised some of the provisions because it wasn’t really working the way they wanted to. Do I recommend EB-5s to our clients? Hell to the no.

Why? The processing times are like 10 years. For real.

Takes forever to get one of these. It’s a terrible way. But if Trump wanted to do this, he would say, hey, Congress, guys and gals, I think this is a good idea.

And have, you know, one of the committee members create legislation. This cannot be done with an executive order. No, it can’t be.

This is law. In the United States, we have a constitution and that power falls squarely into the hands of Congress. Say it with me.

Congress makes the law. Where is Congress? Crickets.

Nowhere to be found. Are they going to fix immigration? No.

Is any administration going to fix immigration? No. Are we going to talk about immigration for the next 30 plus years?

Yes. Frustrating. I spend all my time right now talking to the media mostly and to our clients mostly about things that will not happen.

Not something that Congress is doing. Please change the law. Not happening.

Anyway, why does Trump want this so badly? A lot of different reasons. Number one, his picture’s on it.

Number two, hey, the numbers work, right? If he sells a million of these at 5 million bucks, that’s $5 trillion in revenue. Now, the website where you can sign up for more info, they’re saying that they’ve got 70,000 people in queue.

I don’t know. Do they? Who knows?

Can’t believe everything on the internet. The supporters of this, even the Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lundinck says this is a good idea. Let’s do it.

Confund infrastructure, reduce borrowing, avoid raising taxes. That will never happen. Nonetheless, who knows?

This is not going to happen. The political reality is there’s not anything in Congress pertaining to this. There’s no talk of Congress bipartisan support.

Anything that they’re going to do is just going to be blah, blah, blah. They might try and amend the EB-5 plan in place under the law. Again, only Congress could do that.

So if you’re excited about this, I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but this isn’t going to happen.

The Real Options That Actually Work

Fun fact, we do have an investor visa program under the Immigration and Nationality Act called the E-1 or the E-2. We do hundreds of these cases every year.

It doesn’t lead to a green card, but it does lead to a five-year work permit, requires people to come in the U.S. and make a capital investment. There’s no monetary amount. We’ve done them for restaurants, movie theaters, gas stations, yoga studios, Korean restaurants.

You name it, we’ve done them. That’s actually a piece of the immigration law that works. It’s a great category, requires job creation for U.S. citizens, does not lead to the holy grail of the green card. Kind of stinks, but it’s a good alternative for right now. Do not plan. If you’re one of the few people that has $5 million to play with, it’s not going to happen here.

We’ll see what happens. This administration loves to talk about immigration, loves to keep it in the news, loves to talk about all these wild and crazy things. I want to hear Congress.

Haven’t heard them in my career of 28 years. Nonetheless, the Trump gold card, I’m putting my money on, nope, not happening. And for now, if you’re interested in moving to the U.S. or want to buy something, create jobs, the E2 or the E1 category is your best bet. We do them all day, every day. It works. People like them.

So this could be a flashy idea, but it’s an idea nonetheless until we hear Congress. So thanks for tuning in to Immigration Weekly with me, Rosanna Berardi. Please subscribe, share with your friends, stay informed and be the smartest person at your dinner table.

Until next time, we’ll see you soon. This was Immigration Weekly with Rosanna Berardi. Thanks for joining.

Be sure to connect with me, Rosanna Barardi on LinkedIn, or go to our law firm at berardiimmigrationlaw.com. And if you don’t want to miss the latest and greatest, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and share this with your friends.

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