Trump’s Gold Card Visa Program: How Could It Impact CRE?

December 18, 2025

Policy Executive Insights Finance Investment More National

Here’s what you need to know about the initiative.

Jill Jones, head of specialty administration and general counsel at JTC Group USA. *Image courtesy of JTC*

President Trump’s Gold Card program has officially launched, allowing foreigners to pay $1 million to speed up their visa approval process. For commercial real estate firms, this might sound similar to the existing EB-5 program, which has often provided a source of capital for development projects.

But the two programs are quite different, as Jill Jones, head of specialty administration and general counsel at JTC Group USA, explained in an interview with Commercial Property Executive. While Gold Card seems designed to simply generate revenue for the government, EB-5 investments are earmarked for capital projects.

EB-5 will be up for reauthorization by Congress in September 2027. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has previously been critical of the program, but assuming EB-5 is reauthorized, Jones said the two initiatives can, and should, coexist—without a significant threat to commercial real estate investment.

How does the Gold Card program differ from EB-5?

Jones: The Gold Card program is a green card purchase program. Participants will be asked to pay a processing fee of $15,000 per person—not once per family—and if approved, they will make a non-refundable donation to the U.S. Treasury of $1 million per person. This program relies on the assumption that individuals with enough liquid assets to make the donation will bring wealth and advanced knowledge to the U.S.

The EB-5 program is more affordable, therefore more accessible to potential applicants, with a price of $800,000 or about $1 million per family. These funds are invested in job creating enterprises, and there is an expectation that the investment can be liquified after the immigration goal is reached, so the family gets at least their initial investment back, and at best with a return on top of the initial investment.

The EB-5 program comes with a requirement that capital commitments from the applicants be used to benefit U.S. communities, with certain perks if those funds are used in underserved areas such as rural, urban high unemployment, or infrastructure.

Additionally, the Gold Card program now has three levels. Individuals who are subject to the $1 million donation in return for a permanent green card; a Corporate Gold Card which requires a company to pay $2 million for a transferable green card for an employee; and a Platinum Card which requires a $5 million donation in return for privileges to be in the U.S. for up to 270 days per year and offers a tax exemption for worldwide income tax.

From your perspective, is the Gold Card designed to supplement EB-5 capital or ultimately replace it as the primary immigration-linked capital source for U.S. real estate projects? What signals are you watching from the administration and Congress?

Jones: The two programs are symbiotic. Nothing about the Gold Card program links immigration capital to U.S. real estate projects—there is only an assumption that the demographic who would qualify for a Gold Card should have the wealth and desire to invest in U.S. real estate projects.

EB-5 requires that immigration investment capital be used in U.S. real estate/business projects. I think the signal we are getting from the administration is that there is an openness to having investment-based immigration programs.

For CRE sponsors who have relied on EB-5, what practical adjustments will they need to make over the next 1-2 years if they want to tap Gold Card investors instead of, or in addition to, traditional EB-5?

Jones: With one key assumption being that the Regional Center Program gets reauthorized, and ideally made permanent, commercial real estate sponsors should continue to seek capital from EB-5 investors.

Especially right now where the set-aside categories have no backlog for any country, getting a green card via the EB-5 program is likely faster than a Gold Card, and it comes with the chance to get that investment capital back.

Right now, the Gold Card visas will come from the EB-1 and EB-2 categories, which require national interest or extraordinary abilities of the applicants. These categories are oversubscribed by applicants from China and India, just like the pre-set aside EB-5 category. The only part of the process that would be shorter is that the Gold Card applicant would not have to wait for a conditional residency period or time for the requisite number of jobs to be created.