Last September, President Trump ordered the creation of a new “Gold Card” visa program to allow wealthy foreigners to gain permanent residence in the United States after making a $1 million contribution to the federal government and passing through a vetting process.
When the idea was discussed at Trump’s first cabinet meeting in February 2025, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Gold Card could raise as much as $1 trillion, with the money being used to reduce the national debt. “That’s why the president is doing it, because we are going to balance the budget, and we are going to pay off the debt under this president,” Lutnick said.
The president took the supposition even further, saying the program could raise $50 trillion — “which means our national debt is totally paid off, and we have $15 trillion above that,” Trump told his assembled Cabinet.
In March 2025, Lutnick claimed that he had already sold 1,000 Gold Card visas. However, the program did not start operating until December, raising questions about the accuracy of his claim. On Thursday, appearing before a House committee, Lutnick told lawmakers that the true tally of Gold Card applications approved and “gifts” received was considerably lower: one.
“They have approved recently one person,” Lutnick told Democratic Rep. Grace Meng, adding that “there are hundreds in the queue that ... are going through the process.”
Asked what the Commerce Department plans to do with the “billions of dollars in the gift account,” Lutnick said the money would be used “for the betterment of the United States of America,” as determined by the Trump administration.