What’s Happening
In a September 19, 2025 Executive Order, the Trump Administration announced the creation of a “Gold Card” which offers permanent residency in the United States to foreign nationals who make qualifying financial contributions. The Gold Card program is being administered through a new government portal, TrumpCard.gov. On Wednesday, December 10, 2025, the portal was updated to indicate that the program is now live and USCIS is accepting and processing Gold Card applications.
What You Need to Know
Program requires a $1,000,000 (individual) or $2,000,000 (corporate) contribution to the U.S. Treasury
Under the Gold Card program, both individual applicants and sponsoring employers can make a contribution to the U.S. Treasury that qualifies a foreign national for permanent residency through either the EB-1 category for individuals with extraordinary ability or the EB-2 National Interest Waiver category. Individual applicants must contribute $1 million, while employer-sponsored cases require a $2 million contribution.
$15,000 Non-refundable processing fee required
The Gold Card portal has been updated with a link allowing petitioners to pay the $15,000 non-refundable processing fee.
Dependent Family Members Require Separate Donation and Processing Fee
According to the updated Trump Card website, each dependent Gold Card applicant (defined as a spouse or unmarried child under 21) must also provide a separate $1 million donation and pay the $15,000 processing fee to receive a derivative green card. This is the first clear indication from the government that these financial requirements extend to family members as well.
How to Apply
Based on currently available information, it appears that the Gold Card application process will unfold in several stages:
1. Submission of the Gold Card application.
The foreign national or the sponsoring employer begins by filing a Gold Card application through the TrumpCard.gov portal. This filing requires basic biographical information for the applicant and any dependents, such as names, contact details, birth information, citizenship, and residential address.
2. Payment of the $15,000 DHS processing fee for each applicant.
After the application is filed, the applicant or sponsor is redirected to the Treasury’s pay.gov site to submit a nonrefundable $15,000 processing fee for the principal applicant and for each family member. Payments may be made using U.S. or international credit cards or via ACH debit from a U.S. bank account (noting that a 2.5% credit card processing fee will be added when paying via credit card).
3. Online filing of Form I-140G.
USCIS will then instruct the applicant or sponsor to create or log in to a USCIS online account to file Form I-140G, the Immigrant Petition for the Gold Card Program. This form must be filed electronically; paper submissions are not allowed. USCIS uses the form to confirm the donated funds are from a lawful source.
4. Submission of the $1 million or $2 million donation.
If USCIS completes its initial review successfully, the applicant or sponsor will be asked to transfer the required funds )to the U.S. Treasury. Donations must be made via ACH debit or Swift wire transfer, following government instructions. After the donation is received, USCIS may approve the Form I-140G.
5. Consular processing with the State Department (Form DS-260G).
Once the I-140G is approved and a visa number becomes available in the relevant preference category (EB-1 or EB-2) and country of chargeability, the applicant must proceed with immigrant visa processing at a U.S. embassy or consulate. This requires filing Form DS-260G, paying applicable fees, and submitting detailed personal information and supporting documentation. A consular officer will then determine whether the applicant is admissible to the United States.
It is expected that applicants will need to attend an in-person interview at a U.S. consulate in their home country before an immigrant visa is issued. Once the visa is granted, the individual may enter the United States as a permanent resident.
The government has not yet clarified whether applicants already in the United States will be allowed to apply for permanent residence through USCIS’s adjustment of status process under this program.
Timing Considerations
According to the Trump Card website, once the Gold Card application and DHS fee are submitted, processing “should take weeks,” though the site does not specify whether this refers to the initial application submitted on the portal or USCIS’s adjudication of the I-140G petition.
Additionally, final consular green card processing can range anywhere from a few weeks or months to over 1 year, depending on the consular post through which the individual is processing. As a result of a recent State Department policy change, Gold Card applicants facing long wait times at their assigned consular post will generally not be allowed to transfer their case to a faster post unless they are a citizen or legal resident of that country.
D&S is continuing to monitor this situation and will provide updates as they become available.