Trump Gold Card visa approves one applicant, hundreds more under review

The Trump administration’s much-promoted Gold Card visa has approved just one applicant, an early sign that the program’s bold branding has not yet translated into broad demand from wealthy foreigners.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on April 23, 2026, that hundreds of other applications were still under review. The figure is a sharp contrast with the rollout pitch: a faster route to U.S. residency for rich foreigners willing to pay $1 million, plus a nonrefundable $15,000 Department of Homeland Security processing fee, before vetting begins.

The program formally opened on Dec. 10, 2025, through the website trumpcard.gov. After the processing fee and the contribution, the administration has said successful applicants could move toward citizenship after five years of vetting. At launch, Lutnick said about 10,000 people had already pre-registered and predicted the government would eventually sell thousands of cards and raise billions of dollars.

The Gold Card was introduced by the Trump administration as part of a broader crackdown on immigration and as a revenue source that the White House has compared to tariffs. Trump’s Sept. 19, 2025 executive order described the program as a way to “realign” immigration policy toward people who would “affirmatively benefit the Nation,” including entrepreneurs, investors and businesspeople.

But the rollout has raised immediate legal and administrative questions. The Economic Policy Institute has argued that new immigrant visas cannot be created without Congress and that the Commerce Department normally does not set immigration policy. Existing employment-based green card categories, with annual caps, already govern most of the legal pathways for foreign workers and investors seeking permanent residence in the United States.

The program’s design also appears aimed at the very wealthy, not average applicants. Reuters reported at launch that the corporate version would cost $2 million per employee, and that some officials suggested wait times could stretch to a year or more for applicants from countries with visa backlogs such as India and China. That combination of price, scrutiny and delays may help explain why one approval has arrived while hundreds remain in review.

For now, the Gold Card stands as a test of whether a high-priced immigration brand can overcome legal doubts, bureaucratic friction and a limited pool of people willing to pay up front for a chance at U.S. residency.