To get American citizenship for investor immigrants: Golden card vs. EB-5

As Washington is fighting with immigration reform and debt reduction, Trump’s proposed gold card has attracted the attention of global elites and the US investment community of immigration. The idea is that the Golden Card will offer an immediate way to American citizenship for the controlled “world -class world class”. The special impulse is that investors will get rid of US tax on foreign income and will not require job creation. Instead, investors would simply make a single non -refuted payment of $ 5 million to the federal government. That’s it!

The Golden Card seeks to compete with the Visa Program that has been established by a long American, which has allowed foreigners to invest in businesses that create jobs in return for legal permanent residence and, ultimately, citizenship. Unlike the golden card, the EB-5 investor gets his money back at the end of the process, if all goes well. However, the rationalized gold card appeal, strings, faster condition and significant tax advantages-make both a challenge for the EB-5 program and a legislative mine on its own.

A story of two visas

While both programs lead to the same destination – nationality – the roads deviate abruptly.

Trump’s golden card would not require job creation, no financial modeling and there are no indirect employment calculations. It would provide an immediate permanent residence for a flat $ 5 million contribution to the US government-a virtually a fee model for staying. If the procedure is structured like other immigrants, gold card holders will become eligible to apply for citizenship after five years of continuous residence. Rumors have that more than 1,000 gold cards are already “pre-select”, marking the strong global demand for a simple route to American citizenship and a passport among the extremely rich.

On the contrary, the EB-5 program It requires a minimum investment of $ 800,000 (or $ 1,050,000 in non -targeted sectors) in projects that create at least 10 jobs. Long -term processing times are plaguing the program with candidates who sometimes expect even a decade to pass through the whole process to a permanent resident. Indeed, many believed that the program is to support life due to these long -term delays by 2022, the RIA introduced aside EB5 rural, infrastructure and high unemployment projects along with the simultaneous adjustment of the status of investors that could apply to the United States. These reforms have opened the doors for investors immigrants who could then use “high quality processing” to accelerate approvals and, for those within the US, apply for employment and travel licenses in the context of adapting status applications until their green cards are approved. These reforms have raised interest in the EB5 program that remains open to investors by October 2025 when the processing delays are expected to occur. As for citizenship, when candidates qualify for a green card, they can begin to count the five years required to apply for US naturalization and receive a US passport.

Tax Liturgings – and legal obstacles

The proposed tax treatment in the frame of the gold card can be its most controversial feature. According to Trump’s team, the recipients of gold cards will be exempt from the US tax payment of foreign income-an income earned in Europe, Asia or elsewhere outside the United States. They will only be taxed for US profits, which marks a significant divergence from the current global tax model for holders and citizens of the green card.

But such a preferential treatment would almost certainly require an act of Congress to modify the internal revenue code. In addition, it could face constitutional scrutiny in accordance with the principles of equal protection of the fourteenth amendment.

It seems quite obvious that if you grant tax exemptions to a category of green card holders based solely on wealth or type of visa rather than others who are similarly, you invite legal challenges. Indeed, the US tax system does not currently have a distinction between categories of legal residents. The creation of an acquisition for gold holders will create administrative, legal and political obstacles-especially in a period of fiscal and growing populist reaction. The distinction is even more difficult to justify at the Stadium of Citizenship, where all naturalized Americans must be treated equally in accordance with the federal law.

Congress’s view and realities

In addition to tax policy, engineers in implementing a golden card program would require detailed legislative action. Current sets of US immigration law annual numerical limits on employment-based immigrants, including EB-5. Members of the EB-5 investor family are calculated against the ceiling, significantly limiting how many main candidates can be approved each year.

Unless Congress authorizes a new visa category or adjusts the quotas, Gold Card candidates could find competitors with EB-5 investors for a shrinking group of green cards. The processing times, the ceilings of the countries and the standards of review should be codified, either through legislation or through the rules of the service.

Ali Jahangiri, Managing Director and Publisher of EB5 investor magazineHe believes that despite these complications, there is room for both programs. “EB-5 builds America,” he said. “The golden card finances America. These programs are different and they can coexist.” He added that the EB-5 has proven its value for over three decades, creating $ 55 billion in foreign investment and supporting virtual projects such as Brightline High-Speed ​​Rail in Miami and the development of Hudson shipyards in New York.

Public benefit or policy trap?

Supporters argue that the Golden Card could offer significant fiscal benefits. A fee of $ 5 million per applicant could increase tens of billions in revenue – enough to help repay national debt, enhance border security or efforts to relieve disaster through FEMA. With nearly 4 million people worldwide Holding net assets of more than $ 5 million, even a average adoption percentage of adoption could bring in large capital.

However, critics warn that replacing the EB-5 with a revenue-based model gives government funding for economic growth and job creation.

The EB-5 was built to promote employment, rebuilding communities and Spark infrastructure in rural or inadequate areas. This mission is in danger of being lost if the golden card becomes the dominant path. In addition, the EB-5 program enjoys legitimate durability. According to the 2022 EB-5 (RIA) reform and integrity law, reports submitted under current regulations must continue to be processed-even if the program is not redefined in 2027.

Legal challenges on the horizon

In the meantime, the EB-5 program is immersed in its own legal turmoil. A pending case of a federal court challenges the government interpretation From the required “retention period”-how long EB-5 funds must remain invested. Interested parties argue that the current two -year USCIS requirement diverge from both law expectations and investors may endanger long -term projects.

Such uncertainties add weight to the appeal of a “cleaner” option such as the golden card. However, lawyers warn that the legal landscape for the Golden Card will be anything other than clear if the basic provisions have rushed through executive action without legislative clarity.

Conclusion: Reform or rivalry?

The future of US investor migration can be based on the way Congress responds to these competing visions. Will legislators maintain and improve the EB-5 or turn a gold card model with higher amounts, with revenue? Or will both programs be allowed to coexist, each of which serves a different category of investors?

What is clear is that the Golden Card has injected new energy and new disputes-in one often part of American immigration policy. It reflects the shift of priorities from job creation to fiscal recovery, from complex regulatory programs to the simplicity of transactions.

But simplicity, by law and politics, especially when it comes to citizenship is rarely simple.