After US President Donald Trump announced that he plans to offer a “gold card” visa to foreign investors with a path to citizenship for $5 million, Indians have responded to the development with disappointment and memes on social media.
"We are going to be selling a gold card," Trump said. "We are going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million," he added. Referring to the "investors" who would buy the "gold cards," the US President said they would be "wealthy and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it’s going to be extremely successful.”
Responding to this, Trendulkar, who has 1.2 million followers on X, wrote, "US Green Card is now available at $5 million. Half the cost of an apartment in DLF Camellias, Gurgaon." "US Green Card (E5 Visa) now at $5M—previously available for $1M with barely 1K approvals and 12K applicants total. Now, with US global tax application and you are one woke trend away from deportation, is it really worth it?" replied X user Arun Rangnath Pudur (@arunpudur). A third user, Rahul Dev (@meetrahuldev) commented, "Called my broker at 8 am to sell the Camellias flat and buy in Magnolias for half the price to generate instant funds for this Green Card."
Author and wellness coach Sandeep Mall (@SandeepMall) shared, "India, where $5 million makes you royalty. Why leave when I can live in a large house, have staff, and enjoy luxuries that would cost triple or more elsewhere? The value, culture, and comfort here are unmatched. My rupees simply stretch further in the motherland. I would only migrate if I don’t have $5 million."
Angel investor Udit Goenka (@iuditg) echoed similar sentiments. "$5 million for a green card to live in the US. I would rather put that amount in FD and have a king-size life in India forever!" he wrote on X.
Several other users like entrepreneur Anubhav Dubey (@tbhAnubhav), who owns two eateries in Indore, opined that he would rather invest that money than spend it on US citizenship. "$5 million for a US green card? Which is approximately Rs 43-44 crore in India. Instead of buying a US green card, I would rather invest this amount in businesses, stock market, real estate, and FD."
US could sell 10 million 'gold cards':
Donald Trump
Investors’ visas are common around the world. The Associated Press quoted advisory firm Henley & Partners as saying that more than 100 countries around the world offer “golden visas” to wealthy individuals, including the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Canada, and Italy.
Trump made no mention of the requirements for job creation. And, while the number of EB-5 visas is capped, he mused that the federal government could sell 10 million “gold cards” to reduce the deficit. He said it “could be great, maybe it will be fantastic.”
“It’s somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication, it’s a road to citizenship for people, and essentially people of wealth or people of great talent, where people of wealth pay for those people of talent to get in, meaning companies will pay for people to get in and to have long, long term status in the country,” he said.
Congress determines qualifications for citizenship, but Trump said “gold cards” would not require congressional approval.
(With inputs from agencies)
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