Gold Card or pipe dream? Expert exposes gaps in Trump's immigration overhaul

Talks of the ultra-rich gaining fast-track passageway entry into the world of US residency have long been going around town. President Donald Trump introduced his new Gold Card program as a method to attract the wealthy and successful to the shores of America and stimulate its economy through creating jobs and investing capital.
Be it Russian oligarchs or Middle Eastern oil tycoons, the administration is ready to serve them permanent residency free of international taxation for a barter trade of $5 million. We've heard the President call it 'the Green Card but better' and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick promise the release of an official website in 'about a week' on loop for a while now. Three weeks have passed since Lutnick's statement. Any concrete sign signaling a possible release anytime shortly appears to be invisible at the moment. David Lesperance, JD Founder and Managing Partner of Lesperance and Associates- a Montreal-based immigration and international taxation advice agency, calls the program a 'concept of a plan" that will be this term's 'infrastructure week.'
Given his 35 years of experience in his role as an advisor to Ultra High Net Worth (UNHW) families from the US and beyond, Lesperance points out the gaping holes that still threaten Trump's 'wild card' from ever manifesting into reality. How attractive is the proposal to its target audience? What is the impending future of the EB-5 Program? Has the Congress approved any relevant legislative change in this regard? Does a market for this program even exist? Lesperance lays it all bare in a candid conversation.
In an appearance on the All-In Podcast on March 21 of this year, Lutnick claimed to hosts Chamath Palihapitiya and David Friedberg that 37 million people across the globe had the fiscal capacity to buy a gold card; 'And by the way, yesterday I sold a 1000,' he added.
Lesperance questioned the potential market of 37 million individuals as claimed by Lutnick by saying: 'One does not spend their entire fortune on a donation to the US government for a Gold Card. In reality, one would only spend 1/6th of their wealth (i.e., +$30M net worth), and there are only 395,070 such individuals in the world. Since 225,000 of them are already Americans, there is only a possible total market of 170,000 individuals.'
If this program were to ever materialize, he professes a 'negligible impact on wealth in the US' and downs the sales numbers from millions to mere hundreds.
As part of the 'privileges plus' feature of the program, the Trump administration aims to shield cardholders from paying dues on income earned from foreign sources. Lesperance, however, questions the legal feasibility of this feature: 'To actually make this happen would require a change to the definition of being a US person for Tax Purposes in the Internal Revenue Code. There would need to be a new category that outlines how Gold Card holders' tax obligations are completely different from the worldwide tax obligations of Citizens, Green Card Holders, and those who trigger the Substantial Presence Test.'
He further pointed out that the ultra-rich can easily gain the same benefits through other measures like an L-1, E1/E2, or O-1 visa and burn fewer holes in their own pockets.
'If they either spend less than the time allotted under the Substantial Presence Test or have either a Closer Connection or Treaty Election to overcome the SPT, they will not become US taxpayers subject to US global taxation,' he adds. 'So as the weeks go by either the Trump Card will be properly legally created with the promised feature of territorial tax and I will have egg on my face.....OR I will be labelled "NostaLesperance" for being the first to point out the Trump Gold Card Emperor has no clothes.'
Drifting from the aspect of the existence and likelihood of UNHW families, Lesperance echoes a common concern that has been stated by multiple Senators in the past few months regarding the legal implications of executing such a massive change to immigration policy. The current investment-based immigration scheme in the US, called the EB-5 Program, requires foreign investors to create 10 full-time jobs for American workers and contribute either $800,000 in specified 'high-unemployment' sectors or $1,050,000 in a non-targeted area.
Although the president intends to exercise his executive powers to pass the legislation, many, including Lesperance, foresee the difficulties in doing so. 'The EB-5 program has been approved by the US Congress until the end of 2027. Even though the Gold Card was proposed in late February, no legislation has even been proposed to either eliminate or compete with the EB-5 program. This is despite the fact that major immigration proposals are part of the Big Beautiful Bill.'
Moreover, shifting from the EB-5 to a Gold Card would replace the concept of investments with donations; an idea the ultra-rich aren't exactly pouncing on in a flash. The possibility of the program being 'introduced by a sharpie signature on an executive order' remains under question by legal loopholes.
According to data published by the Center for Immigration Studies, 20% of all workers in January 2025 were immigrants from foreign nations, accounting for a staggering 31.7 million individuals.
But, Lesperance points out how the program might just help the country shoot itself in the foot: 'For the stated Gold Card target market of international UHNW "Golden Geese" it is a place to leave rather than fly to. In the future if the political pendulum swings towards the Democratic party's prior "Tax the Rich" proposal the current record wave of departing wealthy will become a tsunami.

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