President Trump’s “Golden Visa” scheme is already pulling in billions of dollars in revenue for the U.S. economy.
In an appearance on the All In podcast, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained how President Trump had come up with the idea and revealed that he sold 1,000 golden visas in just one day.
He explained:
John Paulson had a call with Donald Trump, and was talking to Donald Trump, and was kicking around the idea of, we should sell, right? Why do we give away visas? We should sell them. And they’re talking about it. Donald Trump calls me, gets me on the phone, right?
We all talk about it, right? And then we go from there. And then my job is to figure out, like I always figure out, how to do it.
What’s the path? Let’s go figure it out. About two weeks from today, it goes out.
Okay? Elon’s building me the software right now. Right? And then out it goes. And by the way, yesterday I sold 1,000.
One thousand sales at $5 million is equivalent to five billion dollars of revenue, which can then be used to fund infrastructure projects or pay down the national debt.
“There are 37,000,000 people in the world who are capable of buying the card,” Lutnick added.
”The president thinks we can sell a million.”
Watch the clip below:
NEW: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says he sold 1000 immigration Gold Cards (priced at $5M each) in one day this week.
The development means $5 Billion was made to help pay off the national debt.
“There are 37,000,000 people in the world who are capable of buying the… pic.twitter.com/oQD6XgwWf7
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 21, 2025
However, Trump has admitted that there is a risk of the scheme attracting the wrong sort of people.
Speaking to Fox News host Laura Ingraham this week, Trump was asked whether he was “worried about any unsavory people coming in.”
“Yeah, I’m worried about unsavory — in which case we’re gonna give ‘em the money back and they get out,” Trump replied, adding that all individuals will be “properly vetted” before being granted entry.
“You know, when you’re talking about a lot of people — I think it’s gonna be very successful.”
