This is going to replace the EB-5 which required a 800k investment, that you could get back with interest.
With this, it seems like a 5 million usd donation to the US government. Which makes sense and puts us in-line with other countries that have "weaker" citizenships. Just makes me a little sad because I was saving up to 1 million to get the EB-5.
Why would anyone do this? With 5M you can either move to Thailand or Vietnam and live without working for the rest of your days.
Or donate it to Trump and Musk and find yourself with zero dollars to your name and the right to be in a place where if you don't have money you are even more of a zero compared to other regular countries, matter of fact if in other countries people without money are zero, in the US they are 6 feet under (or on their way there given health policy)
Anyone paying $5m for a gold card will have a higher standard of living in the US than Thailand or Vietnam. Even if you make just a bit above the US average salary your life will be better in the US than Thailand at least. In Thailand from my experience living there it is great if you're broke/low income but actual luxuries are a premium to western countries.
Why would you expect someone to be spending all their money on this? It's clearly for wealthy people. I'm Canadian/Australian so you can probably guess my opinions on Trump and the current US government but I don't have any problem with this type of program and most countries already have a similar one just at a lower price point(I think Canadas in like $2m in venture investing instead of a straight payment to the government but same difference).
If you're spending $5m on a visa you'll be able to afford similar services on both sides. A regular gardener, a regular cleaner and a laundry service are all affordable by the upper middle class in America let alone the rich. If you want full time live in servants that would obviously be different but the quality of life difference isn't going to be huge until you have a professionally trained and managed staff.
Hmm. I'm just spitballing, but maybe as a path to U.S. citizenship in order to take advantage of more favorable tax codes and enforcement for the wealthy?
In Thailand, sure it is legal! You can drive a BMW with a colourful swastika all over the hood and everyone is 100% fine with it. Communism is a no-no in Thailand, overt Nazism is fine.
US or EU passports are very useful because they allow to travel to many countries visa-free.
Malta in the EU also offers golden visas with straightforward route to citizenship and it attracts people who wants this and be able to have a place of adobe in a stable country.
> Asked whether he would consider selling the cards to Russian oligarchs, Trump responded: “Yeah, possibly. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”
> Asked whether he would consider selling the cards to Russian oligarchs, Trump responded: “Yeah, possibly. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”
I think it's a given that none of the character assessments conducted for other visa applicants will apply in this case.
> Trump said the sale of the gold cards will begin in about two weeks
Where's the law from congress that authorized this new category? The EB-5 he's talking about replacing comes from the Immigration Act of 1990.
The timeline suggests Trump is going to sell worthless crap to gullible victims again, and use his lawbreaking to tee up another kind of The President Is A Dictator assertion in the hopes the Supreme Court will endorse it. (The Constitution says Congress has to impeach the President to stop power-grabs, but too many Republicans want their guy to grab power.)
As a thought experiment, if one wanted to advantage labor over capital, then a durable way to do so would be to engineer a simultaneous labor shortage and a capital surplus. The amazing Silicon Valley employee perks of the 2010s were the product of such an environment.
Labor shortages can be induced by cutting supply: the Black Death was a famous example of this. More modern ways to do so could be reducing the birthrate or deporting able-bodied, working-age immigrants.
Capital surplus can occur if there is too much cash and not enough investment opportunities. Importing more rich people and printing money can accomplish the former. Low interest rates and technological stagnation can accomplish the latter. War is also an option: war profiteering is a poor investment since the losing side's investors often get their assets confiscated as loot or reparations.
One risk of this approach is that retirement becomes near-impossible. This is because retirees are capital holders: either directly via defined-contribution pensions or indirectly via annuities (defined-benefit pensions). The only way to retire will be if one has kids (or at least younger friends) willing to support them.
Another risk of this is that the capital class will try to defy economics by abolishing civil rights and re-instituting slavery or serfdom. After all, it worked for Constantine...
Feels like a path for oligarchs to avoid sanctions. Passports are big business for the wealthy. I'm sure I'm wrong and I'd love to know why. Anyone smarter than me know?
I wonder why anyone would sign up to pay US taxes regardless of their residence, if they have cash... Can't see it working. There are plenty of other places with good passports and countries to live that are either safer/more democratic, or alternatively, more free/lawless and yet welcoming to the rich. Doing business in the US does not require a passport.
I was wondering if the gold card will come without the tax obligations of a green card. It could be quite successful if so. I looked at getting an EB-5 but was put off by being liable for tax even if I didn't move to the US and also being expected to move to the US as part of the deal.
It will not come without tax obligations. Taxing U.S. citizens globally is one of the most backward things ever, and yet the government has never gotten rid of it all these years. To the point, banks all over the world hate dealing with U.S. citizens who want to open accounts because of the amount of information the U.S. government expects the bank to hand over to them.
If they managed to sell 8 million of these it would pay of the federal debt. Not actually unreasonable plan to fund it. Not sure if there would be that many takers...
Don't most billionaires have at least some of their assets in the American financial ecosystem? If so then one could find buyers via extortion: first sanction them or freeze their assets, then make permanent residents and citizens exempt from sanctions.
Attempting to take this seriously: If Trump undoes US sanctions and/or gets the Supreme Court to rule that OFAC sanctions cannot extend to permanent residents, then this would make a lot of money.
Not the worst thing Trump has done, but it does make the US look a bit more like some mafia-style government that you expect from someplace like the DRC.
40 comments
[ 2.1 ms ] story [ 94.2 ms ] threadWith this, it seems like a 5 million usd donation to the US government. Which makes sense and puts us in-line with other countries that have "weaker" citizenships. Just makes me a little sad because I was saving up to 1 million to get the EB-5.
Or donate it to Trump and Musk and find yourself with zero dollars to your name and the right to be in a place where if you don't have money you are even more of a zero compared to other regular countries, matter of fact if in other countries people without money are zero, in the US they are 6 feet under (or on their way there given health policy)
Why would you expect someone to be spending all their money on this? It's clearly for wealthy people. I'm Canadian/Australian so you can probably guess my opinions on Trump and the current US government but I don't have any problem with this type of program and most countries already have a similar one just at a lower price point(I think Canadas in like $2m in venture investing instead of a straight payment to the government but same difference).
not for long though, lol
But is it legal to make nazi salutes in Thailand or Vietnam?
Malta in the EU also offers golden visas with straightforward route to citizenship and it attracts people who wants this and be able to have a place of adobe in a stable country.
I think it's a given that none of the character assessments conducted for other visa applicants will apply in this case.
Where's the law from congress that authorized this new category? The EB-5 he's talking about replacing comes from the Immigration Act of 1990.
The timeline suggests Trump is going to sell worthless crap to gullible victims again, and use his lawbreaking to tee up another kind of The President Is A Dictator assertion in the hopes the Supreme Court will endorse it. (The Constitution says Congress has to impeach the President to stop power-grabs, but too many Republicans want their guy to grab power.)
Labor shortages can be induced by cutting supply: the Black Death was a famous example of this. More modern ways to do so could be reducing the birthrate or deporting able-bodied, working-age immigrants.
Capital surplus can occur if there is too much cash and not enough investment opportunities. Importing more rich people and printing money can accomplish the former. Low interest rates and technological stagnation can accomplish the latter. War is also an option: war profiteering is a poor investment since the losing side's investors often get their assets confiscated as loot or reparations.
One risk of this approach is that retirement becomes near-impossible. This is because retirees are capital holders: either directly via defined-contribution pensions or indirectly via annuities (defined-benefit pensions). The only way to retire will be if one has kids (or at least younger friends) willing to support them.
Another risk of this is that the capital class will try to defy economics by abolishing civil rights and re-instituting slavery or serfdom. After all, it worked for Constantine...
[0] Yes, I know this idiom is increasingly unfair to the rest of the Americas.
instead pay a one-time fee to the man himself and do whatever you want.