On Tuesday, February 25th, 2025, while signing executive orders in the Oval Office, President Trump announced to the press that he would seek to replace the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program, which grants permanent residency to foreign nationals that invest a significant amount into job creating businesses, in favor of a new “Gold Visa” program. This new program would increase the current amount of capital investment needed to apply for the Green Card under this category to $5,000,000 dollars while also granting the holder “Green Card plus benefits” and a path to citizenship.

Why Does President Trump Want to Replace the EB-5 Visa Program?

As it stands today, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program allows permanent residency to any foreign national that invests $1,050,000 dollars or more into a new or existing business that would create, at least, ten new full-time jobs. This amount can be reduced to $800,000 dollars if the investment is made to a business in a high unemployment area, a rural area, or any infrastructure project, which the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USICS) calls “regional centers.”

Since it was piloted in 1992, this program has positively stimulated the United States economy¹ and has been regularly reauthorized by Congress (more recently, in 2022, through the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act). However, implied by the President and his staff’s announcement, it could be doing much more. Foreign investment of this kind could, for example, help to “eliminate the current deficit of the United States.”

Raising the capital needed for effectively “buying the Green Card” would allow the country to welcome wealthier foreign nationals and, as said by the President, bring “bigger taxpayers and bigger job producers.” The President also said it could promote wealthy companies into investing more to bring talented individuals into the country. His staff added that his new Gold Visa program would allow the Federal Government to make sure those investors who are granted the permanent residency are truly “wonderful global citizens.”

How this new program would achieve such goals was left unsaid and no further details were disclosed. However, the President announced that a document with his Gold Visa plan would be published in the following next two weeks.

Can the EB-5 Visa Program Be Immediately Replaced?

President Trump seemed to imply that his new Gold Visa program would be made into law through an executive order. This, however, is not possible. The President of the United States does not have the authority to create or amend any immigration laws, which include visa programs. He can propose new legislation, and he can enforce current laws, through USCIS, but he can’t change any of them. Congress has sole authority over all immigration and nationality matters.

If the President tried to end the current EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program now through an executive order, the government official or agency responsible for enforcing the order, such as Secretary Krist Noem, and the Department of Homeland Security would likely be sued. The lawsuit would allow a federal court to prohibit the federal government from implementing this replacement of the visa program with an injunction.

And it has happened before! In 2017, during President Trump’s first administration, courts all over the country, through several lawsuits, enjoined the United States from enforcing certain sections from his infamous travel ban, which barred immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries². Injunctions are a well-known and available legal mechanism that could strike down this sudden change in such an important program.

Should We Worry About the Future of the EB-5 Visa?

On March 15th, 2022, former President Biden signed the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act. This Act of Congress created new requirements for the EB-5 visa, but most importantly it reauthorized the program until September 30th, 2027. This Act protects the current state of the program, as we’ve discussed previously, because the President can’t override nor ignore the congressional permission for the program to continue as it is today. Nevertheless, by 2027, it must be reauthorized again by Congress and the recent announcement of the Gold Visa program puts important pressure on that reauthorization.

We don’t know for sure. But it is likely that President Trump’s administration will work with Congress, throughout the next two years, to translate what we know as the EB-5 program into what he calls the Gold Visa. And, as happened in the Act of 2022, the new authorization for 2027 could mark the beginning of this new investor visa program. Time will tell.

What we know, though, is that today is more important than ever to act if you want to invest in the United States. Why wait until the cap is above the $5 million dollar mark? This is a sign of changing times, true; but it is also a call to action. Think about it, if you have the opportunity to invest now in a EB-5 investment, you’ll be doing it at a relatively inexpensive price.

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program may not change much in 2025 and 2026, but by 2027, it’s set to morph into a colossal force—an immigration titan that only a select few will be able to access. The best time to invest is now. If you need expert guidance, our lawyers at LOIGICA are here to help.