Who Is Buying US Permanent Residency for $6.8 Million? Nearly 70,000 on Waitlist

Based on the Online Application Portal

'US permanent residency for sale at $5 million (approximately 6.8 billion KRW).'

The number of applicants for the so-called "Gold Card"?a Trump administration initiative that allows for quick and easy acquisition of US permanent residency?has reportedly approached 70,000.

The Financial Times (FT) of the United Kingdom reported on June 16 (local time) that the number of foreign nationals who have registered on the US Department of Commerce's Gold Card application website has reached 68,703.

President Donald Trump announced in February that he would abolish the existing EB-5 investor visa program and implement the Gold Card policy, which grants permanent residency for $5 million. Since then, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has overseen the Gold Card policy, and last week, an online portal for Gold Card purchase applications was launched.

The design revealed on the website features President Trump's face and signature, as well as the Stars and Stripes and the Statue of Liberty. Secretary Lutnick explained, "President Trump values both the appearance and the feel of the card, so it will be made of real gold."

According to Secretary Lutnick, billionaire John Paulson, a supporter of President Trump, came up with the idea for the Gold Card program. The intention was to sell permanent residency to wealthy foreigners and use the astronomical proceeds to help address the US national debt. Under the previous investor visa program, the maximum investment required to obtain US permanent residency was $1.8 million (approximately 2.45 billion KRW), meaning that under the Gold Card program, applicants would pay 2.8 times that amount.

The US Department of Commerce plans to finalize the details of the Gold Card program soon and begin issuing Gold Cards. Internally, the department reportedly expects to generate $1 trillion (approximately 1,362 trillion KRW) in revenue by issuing 200,000 Gold Cards.