Gulf investors seek clarity about Trump’s Gold Card
- 1 de out. de 2025
- 3 min de leitura
Wealthy Gulf families are pressing advisers with questions about new pathways to living in the US recently outlined by Donald Trump, according to industry professionals.
‘Tremendous interest’ in residency
$1m per applicant for Gold Card
Details and information lacking
Qualified applicants in the UAE as well as Saudi Arabia have shown “a tremendous amount of interest” in the Gold and Platinum cards that are being advertised by the White House, said Kate Kalmykov, a US-based co-chair for global immigration and compliance at Greenberg Traurig, an international law firm.
While the schemes are not operational, an executive order signed by Trump last month laid the foundations for the new residency path under the Gold Card. The Platinum Card is only mentioned in the governmental Trumpcard.gov website as accepting candidates for a waiting list.
Curiosity is “pretty solid” across the Middle East, Kalmykov told AGBI.
“One of the things that’s especially enticing for prospective applicants is that there’s a promise of expedited processing, there’s an element of certainty: you make an investment, you get the benefit,” she added.
The Gold Card is a permanent residency-track visa for individuals who donate $1 million to the US government. The programme is also open to corporations that pay $2 million on behalf of an employee. That’s below the $5 million fee Trump proposed when he first floated the plan in the spring.
The Platinum Card comes with a $5 million price tag and, if advanced, would require significant congressional intervention to reform the federal immigration system and tax code. As such, it remains a far-fetched prospect at the moment, according to sources.
Under this iteration, recipients would not be in line for a green card or citizenship, but would be allowed to remain in the US up to 270 days a year without triggering American taxes on their worldwide incomes, as is the case for other visas.
Pricing for the proposed US offerings starts below New Zealand’s and Singapore’s equivalents, which require at least $2.9 million and almost $8 million in investment, respectively.
“It’s the first time the US is proposing to have a residency-by-donation programme and there’s a lot of questions,” Kalmykov said. “How do you make the donation? What agency does it go to? How will it be used?”
Which options may best suit Gulf investors and their families will depend on how Trump’s guidelines are ultimately implemented.
The Gold Card is likely to sell like “hotcakes” and “cannibalise” the much slower and uncertain EB5 programme for foreign investors who put hundreds of thousands of dollars into the American economy and create jobs, said David Lesperance, who leads an immigration and taxation advisory firm.
Lesperance said rich families in the GCC might be especially attracted to the $1 million individual option for the “next generation”.
“I’m gonna send my kids to school in the United States, I’m going to get them a green card,” he said. “They’re going to plant a seed, start their careers there, but I’m gonna keep the family wealth out.”
The $2 million corporate Gold Card and, if it ever comes to fruition, the Platinum Card are too expensive for what they offer given cheaper alternatives are available under current rules, according to Lesperance.
The new visas would not add to existing immigration quotas but draw from categories already operational and struggling with long waiting times. The administration has suggested that Gold Card applicants, and Platinum Card ones down the line, would cut to the front of the queue.
“In a system where traditional routes are clogged with backlogs, this signals a potential breakthrough for time-sensitive executives and entrepreneurs,” said Dominic Volek, group head of private clients at Henley & Partners in Dubai.
That the announcement came at the same time as the White House drastically hiked application fees for the skilled-worker H1B visa to $100,000 may further increase their appeal based on “certainty” and speed, according to Volek.
“That said, crucial details remain open – quotas, adjudication standards and how ‘expedited’ interacts with statutory caps,” he said about the Gold Card.
“The fundamentals are in place, but the fine print will determine its real-world efficiency.”
By Valentina Pasquali
October 1, 2025, 6:53 AM
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