What we know about ‘Trump Gold Card’ visas and whether they could make president’s predicted profits

• In December 2025, the Trump administration launched the “Trump Gold Card” worth $1 million, promising to “obtain U.S. residency in record time.” The government also launched a “Trump Platinum Card,” which allows buyers to invest $5 million to “Ability to reside in the United States for up to 270 days without paying U.S. taxes on non-U.S. income. “

• Trump said in a speech on December 10 press conference He expects the “gold card” visa to bring “billions” of dollars in revenue to the U.S. Treasury Department and appears to have lowered his profit forecast from February.

• Trump floated the idea of ​​a $5 million “Gold Card” visa at a press conference on February 25, 2025. At the time, Trump said the visa would provide buyers with a path to U.S. citizenship, although the $5 million “Platinum Card” Trump teased in December does not appear to have this feature.

• Trump said in February that a $5 million visa could make a lot of money, saying: “If you sold 10 million cards, it would be worth a total of $50 trillion.” Online accounts at the time said that the amount Trump estimated was impossible because of the limited number of high-net-worth individuals outside the United States who could afford such visas.

• Estimates of the number of millionaires outside the United States with a net worth of more than $5 million fluctuate between 1.5 million and 3.3 million, while estimates of millionaires with a net worth of more than $1 million are much higher, from 15 million to 33.1 million.

In December 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration launched a $1 million “Trump Gold Card” visa, promising to “obtain U.S. residency in record time,” and said it also planned to launch a “Trump Platinum Card” that would allow buyers to “Ability to reside in the United States for up to 270 days without paying U.S. taxes on non-U.S. income. “

The government first floated the idea of ​​a “gold card” visa in press conference February 25, 2025. At the time, Trump said the proposed visa would cost $5 million and provide buyers with a path to U.S. citizenship.

trump card explain In February, it was revealed that proposed visa sales could bring in $50 trillion in profits. December 10, Trump explain Sale of $1 million “gold card” visas could bring in “billions of dollars” in revenue.

Of course, Trump’s plan depends on who buys the visas. Following the announcement in February, social media posts (archived) circulated claiming that these visas would not generate $50 trillion in revenue because not enough people outside the United States could afford to purchase them. After Trump announced the visas last December, Snopes readers searched our site to learn more about the new initiative.

There are varying estimates of how many people in the world have a high enough net worth (assets owned minus liabilities) to purchase a “gold” or “platinum” visa at the asking price of $1 million or $5 million. Publicly available data on high net worth individuals generally do not break down the data sufficiently to be useful in such calculations, as discussed below.

Additionally, Trump’s visas could make it more difficult for high-net-worth individuals to obtain U.S. citizenship. At a press conference on February 25, Trump officials stated that the “Gold Card” visa would replace the existing EB-5 visa.

This visa provides a path to citizenship, typically starting with a green card, for those who make a “necessary” investment (generally more than $1 million) in a U.S. “commercial enterprise” and plan to create or retain 10 permanent jobs for U.S. workers.

Many countries, including Canada, also offer investment visas similar to the EB-5. According to La Vida Golden Visas, a company that advises people, at least 15 other countries have such “golden visas.” Obtain residency and citizenship by investment.

It remains unclear whether Trump’s “Platinum” card could earn $50 trillion on 10 million sales, as Trump claimed in February, or whether the Treasury Department could make “billions of dollars” from a $1 million “Gold” card.

UBS Group AG, transnational The Swiss-based investment bank said in its report Global Wealth Report 2025 By 2024, 60 million people worldwide will have a “total wealth” of more than $1 million (page 24, “Global Wealth Pyramid 2024”). Of these, 55.2% (33.1 million people) are located outside the Americas, which also includes South America and Canada, and citizens of these countries can apply for U.S. citizenship, the report said.

In response to a previous request for clarification on an earlier version of the report, UBS said it could not provide further data breakdown. According to the 2025 report, UBS’s sources include the International Monetary Fund, the OECD and the World Bank.

It was impossible to determine how many of the 33.1 million people with a total wealth of more than $1 million had a total wealth of $5 million or more — the price of Trump’s proposed “platinum” visa, according to UBS data.

Another report, titled “Smart Strategies for the Super Rich to Win,” gave a slightly lower number of millionaires worldwide. Figure 3 in the report shows that in December 2024, there were 23.4 million people with a net worth of more than $1 million. French consultancy Capgemini produced the report.

According to Figure 2 of the report, of these 23.4 million people, 15 million live outside the United States. Additionally, people with a net worth of more than $5 million make up 10.2% of the total number of millionaires, according to Figure 3 of the report. Based on this data, the report estimates that approximately 1.5 million people living outside North America have a net worth of more than $5 million.

Only one breakdown of wealth by country could be found – a 2021 report from Credit Suisse titled “Global Wealth Databook 2022.” A table in the report (Table 3-6) lists how many people in each country fall into different wealth classes.

Subtracting the U.S. 5-10, 10-50, 50-100, 100-500 and 500+ million figures, the total number of U.S. foreigners with net worth of $5 million or more in 2021 is 3.3 million, roughly double Capgemini’s forecast for 2024.

The total number of people living outside the U.S. with a net worth between $1 million and $5 million (meaning they can afford a “gold” card but may not be able to afford a “platinum” card) is 32.5 million — again about double Capgemini’s estimate.

Capgemini said it uses data from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to estimate accumulated market wealth. It then used World Bank, Economist Intelligence Unit and national government statistics to determine how wealth is distributed.

Credit Suisse said its data comes from country-specific reported household balance sheets and “standard econometric techniques” are used to estimate net wealth levels and wealth/GDP ratios. GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, is the value of goods and services produced by a country during a specific period of time. The distribution of wealth by country in the data book is either directly reported or inferred from other directly reported data for the region.

It’s unclear how the different methodologies affected Capgemini and Credit Suisse’s results, or how they accounted for the differences.

Given the above, there seems to be no clear answer to the question of exactly how much money Trump will make on his “gold” and “platinum” visas.

Three reports estimate that anywhere from 15 million to 33.1 million people outside North America could afford a $1 million “gold” card, meaning the visa has the potential to generate “billions” in profits, as Trump said in December 2025.

According to reports, between 1.5 million and 3.3 million people will be able to afford the more expensive “platinum” card, meaning it also has the potential to generate “trillions of dollars.” As of this writing, the Trump administration has not officially launched the program.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed in March that the U.S. government had sold 1,000 visas worth $5 million, for a total value of $5 billion. Snopes has not independently confirmed this claim.

Associated Press. “Trump signs executive order.” YouTube, February 25, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/live/DRdydQV53nQ?t=1253s.

Capgemini. Smart strategies for winning with the super rich. Capgemini, https://www.capgemini.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/WWR_2024_web.pdf.

cleanminds.bsky.social. “Trump is an idiot.” Blue Sky, February 27, 2025, https://bsky.app/profile/cleanminds.bsky.social/post/3lj4pvmoopc2o.

“National Archives”. Golden Visa, https://www.goldenvisas.com/country. Accessed: February 28, 2025.

Credit Suisse Research Institute. Global Wealth Databook 2022. Credit Suisse Research Institute, https://www.credit-suisse.com/media/assets/corporate/docs/about-us/research/publications/global-wealth-databook-2022.pdf.

EB-5 Investment Immigrant Program | U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. March 1, 2023, https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/eb-5-immigrant-investor-program.

“Global Insights and Market Intelligence.” Economist Intelligence Unit, https://www.eiu.com/n/. Accessed: February 28, 2025.

Government of Canada. “Start-up Visa Program”. Government of Canada, https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/start-visa.html.

Kozier, John. “Trump Math: 10 Million ‘Gold Card’ Immigrant Visas on Sale for $5 Million Each.” Facebook, February 28, 2025 Day, https://www.facebook.com/johnkoetsier/posts/pfbid0eUumGyuB3wjAqPdA1gFBkXad2H6yKYKSy6gnHynuAu5dZsbwkZs1ZEyUHkiez22kl.

@krasenstein. “Trump is an idiot. Prove me wrong…” X, February 26, 2025, https://x.com/krassenstein/status/1894831308532060619.

UBS. Global Wealth Report 2024. UBS, https://www.ubs.com/content/dam/assets/wm/global/insights/doc/global-wealth-report.pdf.