A sign with an image of U.S. President Donald Trump that reads “Trump Gold Card” is displayed in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., Sept. 19, 2025.Ken Cedeno | ReutersWhen President Donald Trump launched the “Gold Card” visa program last December, the official website promised U.S. residency in “record time.” A new court filing, however, suggests that applicants who pay $1 million for a Gold Card won’t get faster visas.The Gold Card, touted as a new kind of investment visa that would raise revenue and attract tens of thousands of overseas millionaires and billionaires to the U.S., has been dogged by delays and legal questions. In December, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicted that the government would issue 80,000 Gold Cards and raise more than $100 billion in revenue. Yet the Department of Homeland Security revealed in a legal filing last week that only 338 people have so far submitted requests for a Gold Card. Only 165 people have paid the $15,000 visa processing fee.The court filing also contradicted the government’s previous statements on processing time. A key selling point for the Gold Card is rapid approval. The website promised visas in “record time” and “a matter of weeks.” The court filing said Gold Card applicants will not get special treatment or more rapid approval times than applicants for traditional visas.”Gold Card applicants will not necessarily have their petitions adjudicated faster than any non-Gold-Card applicant,” DHS said in the filing.Craig Becker, managing counsel for the Affirmative Litigation Democracy Defenders Fund, who is litigating a lawsuit against the Gold Card’s legality, said the contradiction stems from the program’s precarious legal standing. To attract interest, the White House had to promise a fast-track process. Yet to oppose the lawsuit, which claims the Gold Card displaces applicants for the government’s existing EB-1 and EB-2 programs, DHS contended that Gold Card applicants don’t get priority or any special treatment.”We just don’t know what the real answer is because there is no transparency,” Becker said.The Commerce Department and DHS declined to comment. Immigration attorneys said the program is still in its early days and could eventually become successful if it’s approved by Congress and builds a track record of approvals. Yet the court filing is the latest challenge to a program that promised to cash in on the fast-growing business of investment visas for the world’s wealthy. More millionaires and billionaires are on the move than …
