Lawsuit challenges Trump’s ‘Gold Card’ visa for wealthy foreigners
President Trump’s opponents went to court Tuesday to try to shut down his “Gold Card” visa, saying his attempt to sell a pathway to U.S. citizenship to wealthy investors violates the laws Congress has written laying out who gets into the country.
Led by the American Association of University Professors, the lawsuit said those visas should be going to scientists, engineers and others with more deserving claims.
They compared the program to a “paid fast lane” for the wealthy, displacing those who would bring critical skills to the U.S.
“Rather than reserving those visas for the world’s best and brightest, the Gold Card program converts the visas into revenue-generating commodities sold to those who can pay $1 million or more,” the lawsuit argues.
Mr. Trump’s challengers said the law lays out how newcomers are to be selected, and it does not envision a president setting up his own system, with his own priorities. And they said at the very least, Mr. Trump broke procedural law by not going through the usual notice-and-comment regulatory process before launching his Gold Card.
Among the plaintiffs are an electronic engineer from Colombia who is already conducting research in the U.S. on a guest-worker visa but has applied for an immigrant visa, and a Mexican scientist who’d been working in Canada and hopes to apply for an immigrant visa here.
They are seeking to enter under the EB-1 and EB-2 categories of visa. Both are for individuals with exceptional ability in fields such as science, the arts or athletics.
The number of employment-based immigrant visas is capped each year at 140,000, with the EB-1 and EB-2 programs getting about 80,000 of those. There are rules about setting priorities for how they are doled out.
The challengers say Mr. Trump’s Gold Card, which began in December, promises to give out EB-1 or EB-2 permits on a fast-track basis. They said there’s already an existing investor visa — the EB-5 program — that the president could have tapped instead.
To obtain a card, someone must pay a $15,000 processing fee and, if approved, contribute $1 million — which is being called a “gift” — to Uncle Sam’s bank account.
Those who pay up are admitted as legal immigrants and can apply for citizenship after five years.
It’s not clear how much of a fast-track the Gold Card is, though.
Experts have said that because the number of employment visas is capped, those approved for the cards may still have to wait years before a spot becomes available, particularly if they are from countries such as China and India that already bump up against per-country limits.
Mr. Trump said that more than $1 billion in Gold Cards had been “sold” in the first weeks.
Nicki Minaj, a rapper who visited with Mr. Trump at the White House last month, suggested on social media that she’d been given a Trump Gold Card.
The White House later told The New York Times that was a souvenir version and not an actual immigration pass for Ms. Minaj.
Ms. Minaj is already a legal permanent resident and is eligible to apply for citizenship.
The administration is touting a Trump “Platinum Card” coming soon. That would allow foreigners to pay $5 million to Uncle Sam and be able to live up to 270 days in the U.S. without being subject to American taxes on non-U.S. income.
The government is already taking names for the platinum card waitlist.
