Trump Gold Card Visa Program Receives Fewer Than 60 Applications

The Trump administration’s Gold Card visa program has received fewer than 60 applications since it was activated in June 2025, according to court filings reported by The Washington Post. Immigration attorneys who work with wealthy clients are advising against applying or refusing to handle such cases.

They stated that the program lacks sufficient legal grounding because it relies on existing visa categories rather than new legislation. One attorney who represented the first lady in her 1996 immigration process said it would be unethical for the office to accept clients for the program.

The program uses the EB-1 and EB-2 visa classes but allows applicants to bypass the “extraordinary ability” requirements by making a $1 million donation to the federal government.

Court documents filed in response to lawsuits showed that fewer than 60 people had submitted paperwork to the Department of Homeland Security to proceed with applications. A note from one DHS official in the filing described the workload from the Gold Card program as quite small.

Only one person has been approved under the program, though the identity has not been disclosed. gov, that promises legal U.S. residency in record time after a background check, a $15,000 processing fee and the $1 million payment.

The program has faced lawsuits from several groups, including the American Association of University Professors. Attorneys told The Washington Post that the program’s structure, which modifies existing visa classes without an act of Congress, leaves its future uncertain.

By law the visas must be processed in the order received and are subject to annual numerical limits. Critics have argued that bypassing the statutory requirements violates the legal intent of the EB-1 and EB-2 categories. universities. He said foreign students graduating from American schools should not have to return to their home countries.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a House committee in April that hundreds more were in line to apply and that the program included rigorous vetting. A former DHS official from the first Trump term expressed doubt that the program could proceed without congressional action.

The initiative coincides with broader immigration enforcement efforts by the administration aimed at removing undocumented immigrants.