Trump's $1M Gold Card Visa: Only one taker despite hype - what's going on?

Trump's "gold card" visa, pitched as a million-dollar fast track to the American dream, has so far been approved for exactly one person, according to a Bloomberg report.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed the figure at a congressional committee hearing on Thursday, even as he struck an optimistic tone. The admission stands in contrast to an earlier claim that the government had sold $1.3 billion "worth" of gold cards within days of the programme's launch in December, a discrepancy Lutnick did not address when pressed by a congresswoman at the same hearing.

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One approval, hundreds waiting

Trump had introduced the idea last year, initially floating a price tag of $5 million before settling on $1 million. Standing beside Lutnick at the launch, he called it "essentially the green card on steroids." The gold card is designed to replace the decades-old EB-5 programme, which offered U.S. visas to people who invested roughly $1 million in a company with at least 10 employees.

Despite the single approval, Lutnick was unfazed. "There are hundreds in the queue that they are going through," he said, adding, "They've just set it up, and they wanted to make sure they did it perfectly."

The trillion-dollar promise

A year ago, Lutnick had declared at a cabinet meeting that the gold card would raise $1 trillion in revenue and help "balance the budget," an ambitious target set against a publicly held debt of $31.3 trillion and a projected annual budget deficit of roughly $2 trillion this fiscal year, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

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What the card actually costs

Each applicant pays a $15,000 fee on top of the $1 million price, which Lutnick said enables "rigorous vetting" of candidates on the path to U.S. citizenship. Corporations can also participate, spending $2 million to secure a gold card for a foreign-born employee, along with a 1% annual maintenance fee.

The pitch and the platinum upgrade

The programme has its own glitzy government website, "Unlock life in America," featuring Trump's stern portrait beside a bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, and his signature. It also teases an upcoming $5 million "Trump Platinum Card," which would offer up to 270 days in the U.S. without taxation on non-American income.

When asked how the proceeds would be spent, Lutnick offered little detail. "That will be determined by the administration, and its terms are for the betterment of the United States of America," he said.