The Trump Gold Card launch has reached its final regulatory checkpoint, and Washington is expected to decide this month whether America’s $1 million residency-by-donation program can finally open for petitions.
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – 09 July 2026
Established by Executive Order 14351 on 19 September 2025, the Gold Card promises US permanent residence to anyone willing to gift $1 million to the Treasury. A registration portal at trumpcard.gov has been collecting names and $15,000 processing fees since late 2025. What nobody has been able to do yet is actually file the petition that turns a registration into a green card.
That bottleneck is now days from breaking. Or from becoming very embarrassing.
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What Is Holding Up the Trump Gold Card Launch?
The Trump Gold Card launch is waiting on one signature. Form I-140G, the petition every applicant must file, sat in a final 30-day Paperwork Reduction Act review with a public comment deadline of 29 June 2026. Once the Office of Management and Budget clears the form, USCIS can announce filing procedures and open the program.
According to immigration law firm WR Immigration, that clearance could land as early as this month. The White House originally ordered full implementation by 18 December 2025. That ship has sailed. USCIS has since published the form page and instructions, confirming that I-140G will be online-only and available exclusively to people who first register on trumpcard.gov, per the notice logged in the Federal Register in March.
Anyone weighing the Gold Card against conventional routes should remember there are residency programs in 57 countries that cost a fraction of $1 million and rest on actual legislation rather than an executive order.
How Much Does the Gold Card Visa Cost?
The gold card visa cost is a $1 million donation for individual applicants or $2 million when a company sponsors an employee, plus a non-refundable $15,000 processing fee per person. A proposed $5 million Platinum Card visa would add up to 270 days a year in the United States without tax on non-US income, but that tier still has no published rules.
| Route | Capital required | Processing fee | What you get | Status (July 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Card (individual) | $1,000,000 donation | $15,000 per person | Permanent residence via EB-1/EB-2 route | Registration open; petitions not yet accepted |
| Corporate Gold Card | $2,000,000 donation | $15,000 per person | Employer-sponsored permanent residence | Registration open; petitions not yet accepted |
| Platinum Card | $5,000,000 payment | Not published | 270 days/year in the US, no tax on non-US income (proposed) | Announced, no rules published |
| EB-5 investor visa | $800,000 to $1,050,000 investment | Standard USCIS fees | Green card; capital is invested, not gifted | Operating, facing a DHS rule crackdown |
Read that table twice. The donation is a gift, gone forever, while EB-5 capital at least comes back if the project performs. And here’s the kicker: a Gold Card green card still makes you a US tax resident on worldwide income. The Platinum tier’s tax carve-out is the one genuinely novel idea in the package, and it is precisely the part with zero published rules. Families chasing that pitch usually get further with offshore trusts and deliberate tax-residency planning than with a promise in a press release.
Why Are the Wealthy Staying Away?
Because the legal foundation is shaky and the price is steep. DHS figures reported by CNBC show only 338 people had requested a Gold Card by May 2026, and just 165 of them paid the $15,000 fee. Advisers warn that a program built on an executive order can be rewritten by courts or by the next administration.
The numbers don’t lie. A program pitched as a magnet for the global elite has attracted fewer paying customers in seven months than Portugal’s embattled golden visa processes in a slow week. DHS itself has conceded Gold Card petitions will not necessarily be adjudicated any faster than ordinary ones.
We see the same pattern at Liberty Mundo. Most clients who ask about the Gold Card end up comparing it against Caribbean citizenship or a European residency, and once they run the after-tax math, the $1 million gift rarely survives the first spreadsheet. The newly regulated Caribbean CBI programs deliver a second passport for a fifth of the price.
Gold Card vs EB-5: Which Route Makes Sense?
Gold card vs EB-5 comes down to recoverability. EB-5 requires $800,000 to $1,050,000 placed in a job-creating investment you can potentially recover, while the Gold Card requires a $1 million donation you never see again in exchange for broadly similar permanent residence. Unless speed proves dramatically better, EB-5 keeps the stronger economics.
Let’s be blunt: if the Gold Card opens this month and adjudication turns out to be quick, it becomes a serious product for people who value certainty of capital loss over investment risk. Until then it is a headline with a payment portal.
When is the Trump Gold Card launch date?
How much does the Trump Gold Card cost in total?
Can you file Form I-140G right now?
Is the Gold Card better than EB-5?
Does the Platinum Card really exempt you from US tax?
The Trump Gold Card launch will either clear its last checkpoint this month or hand its critics a very expensive punchline. Either way, the wake-up call stands: never build a relocation plan on a program one signature can erase.
Sources and References
- US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Form I-140G, Immigrant Petition for the Gold Card Program
- Federal Register, Agency Information Collection Notice, Vol. 91, No. 46, 10 March 2026
- CNBC, Trump’s $1 million Gold Card fails to catch on among the world’s wealthy
- Fragomen, USCIS and DOS Take Further Steps Toward Implementation of Gold Card Program
- WR Immigration, Trump Gold Card: Not Open Yet, But June Could Be the Green Light