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United States.

How United States sells residence for investors (golden visa): 2 programmes, 2 of them open today. Every number and rule below links to the document it comes from.

29,983
numbers
137
prices and rules
86
events
95
documents and articles
Residence·Open·since 1991

Investor visa (EB-5)

Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later.

Official name: EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program (employment-based fifth preference, INA 203(b)(5)), including the Regional Center Program

Lowest price for one person: US$800,000

USD 800,000 in a targeted employment area or infrastructure project (most investors use it); standard amount USD 1,050,000 (t-d0d0ff4593). Automatic inflation adjustment due for petitions from 1 Jan 2027, amount not yet published.

Notes from the research

Created by sec. 121 of the Immigration Act of 1990 (signed 29 Nov 1990; preference system in force from 1 Oct 1991, FY1992). Investors who invest the minimum in a new commercial enterprise creating 10 full-time jobs get two-year conditional permanent residence (green card) for themselves, spouse and children under 21, then file Form I-829 to remove conditions. Naturalisation is possible after five years of permanent residence (8 U.S.C. 1427). Regional Center Program added as a pilot in 1992 (sec. 610, Pub. L. 102-395), repeatedly extended, lapsed 1 July 2021-14 March 2022, reauthorised by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (Pub. L. 117-103, div. BB) in force from 14 May 2022 through 30 Sep 2027; regional-center petitions filed by 30 Sep 2026 are protected if the program lapses. Annual quota about 7.1% of employment-based visas (10,000 in the 1990 Act), with 20% rural, 10% high-unemployment and 2% infrastructure set-asides since 2022. First automatic inflation adjustment of the minimum investment due for petitions filed from 1 Jan 2027 (amount not yet published as of 2 Oct 2026). Run by USCIS (Immigrant Investor Program Office); visas allocated by the State Department.

Petitions to remove residence conditions pending
05k10k15k2008201020122014201620182020202220242026

Prices and rules

Ways in that apply today (minimum amounts)
Fees today

What is measured

  • Immigrant visa numbers used (visas issued plus adjustments of status)13250
  • Immigrant visas issued abroad10664
  • Applications received3773
  • Estimated impact of a rule change on programme users832
  • Programme filings received (all or other forms)154
  • Golden visas issued101
  • Applications approved79
  • Petitions to remove residence conditions received75
  • Applications turned down67
  • Revenue of programme businesses (distribution)64
  • Programme filings approved (other forms)56
  • Programme filings denied (other forms)56
  • CBI fees collected by the programme unit55
  • Petitions to remove residence conditions approved55
  • Programme filings decided (other forms)53
  • Processing time52
  • Petitions to remove residence conditions denied51
  • Government spending on running a CBI programme43
  • Applicant share37
  • Approved investor petitions awaiting a visa number36
  • Applications pending35
  • Programme filings pending (other forms)35
  • Investors per pooled-investment entity32
  • Adjudication hours per decided case (completion rate)30
  • Businesses receiving programme investment30
  • Applications processed26
  • Petitions to remove residence conditions pending25
  • Compliance site visits to programme entities23
  • Investment-pooling entities approved (stock)21
  • Programme capital per project (distribution)18
  • Investment by programme investors18
  • Programme places planned16
  • Staff working on a programme14
  • Petitions to remove residence conditions decided12
  • Projected minimum investment amount8
  • Intermediary fees charged per investor8
  • Investor funds misused or misappropriated (per case)7
  • Money credited to a CBI-financed account or fund6
  • Investment projects approved for a programme6
  • Programme money as share of project cost5
  • Qualifying investments made (count)5
  • Share of programme businesses that are small5
  • Investment-pooling entities terminated5
  • Jobs created by programme investors4
  • Time per site visit4
  • Census tracts combined per targeted employment area4
  • Programme migrants counted in a study3
  • Investment-pooling entities that paid the annual programme fee3
  • People waiting for an investor visa number3
  • Programme planning level as a share of a wider planning category3
  • Change in applications received (percent, as stated)2
  • Jobs linked to programme investors2
  • Change in programme fees, percent2
  • Open fraud investigations involving the programme2
  • Income of programme intermediaries2
  • Family members per application1
  • Fraud tips and complaints about a programme received1
  • Enforcement actions over investor-programme fraud1
  • Programme grants as a share of all grants of the same status1
  • Fees collected from programme investors by an intermediary (total)1
  • Share of programme projects with a feature1
Residence·Open·since 2025

Gold Card

Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later.

Official name: Gold Card programme ('Trump Gold Card'), Executive Order 14351

Lowest price for one person: US$1 million

USD 1 million unrestricted gift by an individual (each family member needs their own gift per trumpcard.gov); USD 15,000 I-140G fee per person excluded.

Notes from the research

Established by Executive Order 14351 (19 Sep 2025), not by statute: an unrestricted gift to the Department of Commerce (USD 1 million for an individual, USD 2 million from a corporation for an employee) is treated as evidence for existing EB-1 (extraordinary ability) or EB-2 (exceptional ability / national-interest waiver) immigrant classifications, with expedited processing. Applicants register and pay on trumpcard.gov (Department of Commerce), then file Form I-140G online with USCIS (fee USD 15,000 per person); the gift is paid after vetting. Leads to ordinary permanent residence (not conditional), so naturalisation after five years under 8 U.S.C. 1427. The order asks agencies to consider extending it to EB-5. No official figures on applications, approvals or money received were found. The 'Trump Platinum Card' (USD 5 million) is only announced on trumpcard.gov ('Coming Soon'); no legal act creating it was found. Statutory basis and visa-number limits remain those of EB-1/EB-2.

Prices and rules

Ways in that apply today (minimum amounts)
Fees today

What is measured

No published numbers found for this programme. That is itself worth knowing: see the notes and the documents below.

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All the numbers we have for United States

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Timeline

What happened, and when

Sources

The 95 documents behind this page

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