2 days ago
Last Updated:April 17, 2025, 10:30 IST
'Gold Card' is the new pathway for the US citizenship for the wealthy people, President Donald Trump has previously announced. Elon Musk has been tasked to develop software for it.
Donald Trump's Gold Card to roll out soon (AFP Image)
Tesla CEO and US President Donald Trump’s confidant, Elon Musk, has been tasked to build a mechanism for the rollout of the ‘Gold Card’ – a premium version of the Green Card for the rich immigrants.
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been given the task to create a website and finalise the application process for the “special immigration visas" which will act as a way into the United States for the rich who are willing to pay a hefty sum of $5 million, The New York Times reported.
The engineers linked to DOGE have started working on the given assignment.
In collaboration with the staff of the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Musk’s team has begun the development of the visa portal, according to the NYT report.
DOGE’s Role In Gold Card Project
The Gold Card project is being led by Marko Elez and Edward Coristine from the DOGE team. They have been on the given job since last month, the report said.
They have held meetings with officials of different agencies that take care of the visa and immigrant vetting process to reach a conclusion about which existing processes can be retained in the Gold Card application system.
The report said that DOGE engineers are still figuring out how to build a gold card system that would skip the usual visa process, which often takes years.
The team is working on speeding up the usual immigration checks — like interviews and background screenings — to approve residency for wealthy applicants within two weeks of applying.
What Is ‘Gold Card’?
As Trump seeks to tighten the screws on immigration after his return to the White House for a second term, he announced in February a new pathway to citizenship in the US for “very high-level people" through the roll out of a ‘Gold Card’.
The Trump administration said the new ‘Gold Card’ would take the place of the current EB-5 visa programme. That programme gives permanent US residency to foreigners who invest $800,000 to $1.05 million in US businesses, as long as their investment creates at least 10 jobs for American workers. Last year, the programme brought in around $4 billion for the US government.
Earlier this month, Trump unveiled a prototype of the ‘Gold Card’, featuring his face, the Statue of Liberty and a bald eagle. He had then said that the card would be up for grabs in less than two weeks.
Location :Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
First Published:April 17, 2025, 10:30 IST
News world Elon Musk, His DOGE Tasked To Build Software For Trump's ‘Gold Card’, A New US Citizenship Route
