{"id":23178,"date":"2025-09-22T22:27:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T22:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=23178"},"modified":"2025-09-22T22:27:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T22:27:42","slug":"trump-offers-a-golden-ticket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=23178","title":{"rendered":"Trump Offers a Golden Ticket"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n<\/p>\n

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.<\/p>\n

One thing we know about President Donald Trump: He loves gold. His hotels, his golf clubs, his private living quarters, his proprietary high-top sneakers and coffee grounds\u2014all of it is to some extent coated in the same opulent shade. Even the Oval Office is now distinctly more golden than it was during the Biden years. Now the president is taking his gold paintbrush to the nation\u2019s immigration policies.<\/p>\n

Enter the Trump Gold Card\u2014not a credit card but a new pathway to immigration, offering wealthy foreigners a fast track to permanent residency in the United States. Launched on Friday by executive order alongside a restrictive new update to the H-1B program, the Trump Gold Card offers potential immigrants a trade: In exchange for $1 million plus processing fees, the government will give you an EB-1 or EB-2 visa. The administration is hoping to add an even more exclusive tier in the form of the $5 million Trump Platinum Card, which would give recipients 270 days\u2019 residency in the U.S. with no tax on non-U.S. income.<\/p>\n

The EB-1 and EB-2 are employment-based visas that have historically been reserved for foreigners of \u201cextraordinary\u201d and \u201cexceptional\u201d ability, among other highly qualified professionals; the number following EB denotes a recipient\u2019s importance on the world stage. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services suggests that a Pulitzer Prize or an Olympic medal might be part of a winning EB-1 application (it seems to go to all-purpose celebrities, too, such as former supermodel Melania Trump); professionals with \u201cadvanced degrees\u201d could consider applying for an EB-2. That the $1 million Trump Gold Card now qualifies as \u201csufficient evidence that the individual will substantially benefit the United States\u201d suggests that this administration thinks personal riches are a superpower of their own.<\/p>\n

The concept of a pay-to-play residency permit isn\u2019t all that new. First instituted during the George H. W. Bush administration, the EB-5 visa is open to applicants who invest upwards of $800,000 into American businesses. It is far from a perfect program, and has been used as a vehicle for fraud, but its focus on investment in the American economy makes it decidedly different from the Trump Gold Card, which asks for an \u201cunrestricted gift to the Department of Commerce\u201d that the government can use as it sees fit. (Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick initially said that a Gold Card would replace the EB-5, but Friday\u2019s executive order makes no mention of the program.) While the vestigial EB-5 asks for a direct injection of capital\u2014Manhattan\u2019s Hudson Yards was developed in part by EB-5 funds\u2014the Department of Commerce will put its Gold Card war chest to work to \u201cpromote commerce and American industry,\u201d which is a mandate is broad enough to encompass both new investment in public housing and also just paying off the government\u2019s debt. In fact, Trump said on Friday that the Gold Card windfall will \u201cgenerally\u201d go to \u201cpay down debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether or not it intends to, the Trump Gold Card is saying something profound about what and whom the administration values in 2025. A lot fewer people have Olympic medals than have $1 million in their bank accounts. Still, the Trump Gold Card gestures at a world where the ability to generate (or simply inherit) money is enough to justify a shortcut to U.S. residency. Asked back in February about whether a Russian oligarch could apply for the planned Gold Card, Trump replied, \u201cYeah, possibly. Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gold Card\u2019s premium presentation seems to double down on the promise of membership in an elite society. Its website looks almost like a tech start-up\u2019s, with a sleek minimalist aesthetic courtesy of the National Design Studio, a federal initiative created by executive order last month and led by a co-founder of Airbnb, Tesla board member, and DOGE affiliate Joe Gebbia. A far cry from the typical sclerotic government site, trumpcard.gov invites visitors to begin their application for residency much as they might begin their application for a credit card, with just a few short questions; no onerous details required up front.<\/p>\n

The American dream has always been at least partly financial. Here, you can plant your flag, start your business, and exercise your newfound freedom in a way that\u2019s conducive to economic mobility. But the Trump Gold Card reformulates the dream as a toll. Secretary Lutnick reportedly affirmed that this new paradigm represents some shape of the future for American visas, although he wasn\u2019t very specific. \u201cIn less than a month, the other visa green-card categories are likely to be suspended,\u201d he said, per CBS News. \u201cThis will be the model\u201d by which \u201cpeople can come into the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

So much for \u201cyour tired, your poor \/ Your huddled masses\u201d\u2014this administration is more interested in those who have already hit it big.<\/p>\n

Related: <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Here are three new stories from The Atlantic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s News<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s late-night show will return tomorrow night, less than a week after the show was suspended following backlash over Kimmel\u2019s remarks about Charlie Kirk\u2019s accused killer. The network said it made the decision after talks with Kimmel, calling his earlier comments \u201cill-timed and thus insensitive.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that pregnant women should mostly avoid using acetaminophen, a painkiller commonly known as Tylenol. They warned that the drug is associated with an increased risk of autism, a connection that scientists say remains inconclusive.<\/li>\n
  3. Trump has ramped up pressure on the Justice Department, on Friday ousting a Virginia prosecutor who refused to charge his rivals and on Saturday directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue critics including James Comey and Letitia James.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Dispatches<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Explore all of our newsletters here.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Evening Read<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Liubov Vigurskaia \/ Getty<\/p>\n

    People Are Getting Tattoos Under Anesthesia<\/p>\n

    By John Semley<\/p>\n

    Frank Charles, a pet-resort owner and former five-term mayor of St. Augustine, Florida, wanted a tattoo. He just wasn\u2019t sure that he could take the pain. Then he started seeing advertisements for a place in Miami called Sedation Ink, which offers clients the attention of its licensed anesthesiologists. \u201cYou\u2019ll enjoy a deep and peaceful sleep, allowing our artists to create breathtaking designs on your skin,\u201d the studio\u2019s website reads. \u201cJoin us and experience the future of tattooing, where pain is eliminated, and dreams become reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Read the full article.<\/p>\n

    More From The Atlantic<\/em><\/p>\n

    Culture Break<\/p>\n

    Quique Cabanillas for The Atlantic<\/p>\n

    Explore. The trouble with Bad Bunny\u2019s Puerto Rico takeover\u2014and what it shows about the tricky mix of music and tourism on the island, Valerie Trapp writes.<\/p>\n

    Read. These seven books reveal what corruption actually looks like, Zephyr Teachout writes.<\/p>\n

    Play our daily crossword.<\/p>\n

    Rafaela Jinich contributed to this newsletter.<\/p>\n

    When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting <\/em>The Atlantic.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. One thing we know about President Donald Trump: He loves gold. His hotels, his golf clubs, his private living<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[226,2276,6866,81],"class_list":{"0":"post-23178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-golden","9":"tag-offers","10":"tag-ticket","11":"tag-trump"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}