Only 338 people requested the gold card of US$ 1 million donald trumpthe accelerated residency program in United States which was launched last year with great fanfare by the Republican administration.
In a court filing, Justice Department officials wrote that the program “did not impact the processing” of other visas, which have drawn tens of thousands of applications.
Officials said 165 people paid the $15,000 visa processing fee, and 59 advanced to a subsequent stage with the Department of Homeland Security, which evaluates applicants with the State Department.
Last week, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during congressional testimony that only one person had been approved for the expedited visa, while “hundreds” were “in line.” The Commerce Department did not reveal the identity of the gold card’s first recipient.
When the program was announced, Lutnick said it would replace the EB-5 visa program for foreign investors. He later stated that 200,000 visas could generate $1 trillion for the Treasury Department.
“Rich people will come to our country by buying this card,” Trump said at the program’s launch. “They will be rich, successful people who will spend a lot of money, pay a lot of taxes and employ a lot of people.”
The program has been challenged in a lawsuit authored by the American Association of University Professors, which claims the gold card illegally replaces the existing merit-based system and instead sells visas to the wealthy.
Lutnick said the initial idea for the visa came from billionaire and Trump donor John Paulson as a way to increase government revenue and help pay off the $37 trillion national debt.
In March 2025, the Secretary of Commerce told the All-In podcast that he had “sold a thousand” visas, which he dubbed the “Trump Card”, and stated that the president thought he could sell one million of them at $5 million each. “That’s $5 trillion,” Lutnick told the podcast hosts.
In June last year, the Commerce Department launched the trumpcard.gov website for potential candidates to provide basic contact information, including name, email address and region of the world in which they live. Lutnick told the Financial Times that almost 70,000 people quickly showed interest in the visa.
In December, the government reduced the price of the gold card to $1 million, saying the program would enable the purchase of “US residency in record time.” The government website also advertised a future Trump “Platinum Card” for $5 million, which would allow the holder to “spend up to 270 days in the U.S. without being subject to U.S. taxes on income earned outside the U.S.”
In January, rapper Nicki Minaj thanked Trump for giving her a “free” gold card. Officials later clarified to The New York Times that it was just a “souvenir” and that Minaj was already a legal permanent resident who could apply for citizenship.
A Department of Homeland Security representative referred the FT to the Department of Commerce, which did not respond to requests for comment.
