President Donald Trump says he plans to start selling a “gold card” visa with a potential pathway to US citizenship for $5 million, seeking to have that new initiative replace a 35-year-old visa program for investors.

“I happen to think it’ll sell like crazy. It’s a market,” Trump said. “But we’ll know very soon.”

During the first meeting of his second-term cabinet, Trump suggested that the new revenue generated from the program could be used to pay off the country’s debt.

“If we sell a million, that’s $5 trillion dollars,” he said.

"I think we will sell a lot because I think there’s really a thirst.”

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during the same meeting that Trump’s initiative would replace the EB-5 program, which offers US visas to investors who spent about $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people.

Lutnick said that program “has been around for many years for investment in projects” but “it was poorly overseen, poorly executed”.

The new program could mark a dramatic shift in US immigration policy but isn't unprecedented elsewhere. Countries in Europe and elsewhere offer what have become known as “golden visas” that allow participants to pay in order to secure immigration status in desirable places.

Congress, meanwhile, determines qualifications US for citizenship, but the president said “gold cards” would not require congressional approval.

Trump sees 'a thirst' for his 'gold card' visa idea. – Reuters

Trump said of future possible recipients of the gold visa program: “They’ll be wealthy and they’ll be successful and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people.

"We think it’s going to be extremely successful.”

Henley & Partners, an advisory firm, says more than 100 countries around the world offer “golden visas” to wealthy individuals and investors.

That list includes the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Canada and Italy.

“Companies can buy gold cards and, in exchange, get those visas to hire new employees,” Trump said.

Despite similar programs already occurring outside the US, he insisted, “No other country can do this because people don’t want to go to other countries. They want to come here."

“Everybody wants to come here, especially since November 5," he said of his Election Day victory last fall.

Lutnick suggested that the gold card – which would actually work, at least to start, more like a green card, or permanent legal residency – would raise the price of admission for investors and do away with fraud and “nonsense” that he said characterise the EB-5 program.

A pathway to citizenship as part of the new program also would set it apart from the EB-5 program. Trump said vetting people who might be eligible for the gold card will “go through a process” that is still being worked out.

Pressed on if there would be restrictions on people from China or Iran not being allowed to participate, Trump suggested it will likely not “be restricted to much in terms of countries, but maybe in terms of individuals".

About 8000 people obtained investor visas in the 12-month period ending September 30, 2022, according to the Homeland Security Department's most recent Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.

The Congressional Research Service reported in 2021 that EB-5 visas pose risks of fraud, including verification that funds were obtained legally.

Then-President Joe Biden signed a 2022 law bringing big changes to the EB-5 program, including steps meant to investigate and sanction individuals or entities engaged in fraud as part of it – meant to curb some of those risks.

Trump offered few details on how the new program might work, including making no mention of existing EB-5 requirements for job creation.

While the number of EB-5 visas is capped, meanwhile, the Republican president mused that the federal government could sell 10 million “gold cards” to reduce the deficit.

He said it “could be great, maybe it will be fantastic.”

“It’s somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication," the president said.

“It's a road to citizenship for people – and essentially people of wealth or people of great talent, where people of wealth pay for those people of talent to get in, meaning companies will pay for people to get in and to have long, long term status in the country.”

'There won't be many takers,' says adviser on Trump's $5 million 'gold card' visa. – Reuters

But som experts said the program was unlikely to trigger a major inflow of wealthy global investors seeking US citizenship because of concerns over higher taxes, said Latitude Group CEO and Chairman Eric Major.

Latitude is a group of investment migration specialists providing residence and citizenship solutions to facilitate global mobility.

"If you're a billionaire from Beijing or a billionaire in Oman or Dubai, yeah, you may well aspire to become an American, why wouldn't you? Some would say.

"But those assets – to be subjected to American tax – while right now they are not, certainly not in Dubai with its zero both corporate and personal income tax," he said.

"That's a pretty hefty bill. You gotta really want to be in America."

Major questioned the proposal's competitiveness in the global market for citizenship by investment.

He argued that Trump's pricing is above the market expectation and that many countries offer similar privileges for a lower investment, along with additional benefits such as European Union membership.

"Not to say that there won't be any takers, but there won't be many takers," he said.

The proposal drew mixed reactions from pedestrians in New York's Times Square. Marsha and Linda from Plainview, New York, expressed support for the plan if the $5 million fee was used for good causes, such as helping the homeless or veterans.

However, retirees Dave and Chris Hickson criticised the plan, arguing that the country should not be run like a business, and the proposal seems to favour the wealthy.

In Atlanta, Jim Gray was concerned that the proposal could prioritise the world's wealthy elite over immigrants who have been trying to enter the country for years.

On the other hand, Nestor Wagner favoured the idea of attracting immigrants who could bring money and jobs rather than those who might need welfare.

In Berkeley, California, students at the University of California were disappointed and insulted at the proposal. Merut Shankar and Aidan Somaini Quintero criticised the plan for favouring the wealthy and belittling the contributions of less affluent immigrants.

A 2021 study of EU golden visa programs by London School of Economics and Political Science and Harvard University researchers found that the funds generated by these schemes represented only a "miniscule" proportion of foreign investment with "negligible" economic impact.