Last month, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting immigrant petitions as part of the Gold Card Program created under President Trump’s Executive Order in September.
The Gold Card Executive Order 14351 of September 19, 2025
According to the executive order published in the Federal Register, the Gold Card Program will be overseen by the Secretary of Commerce and will facilitate the entry of noncitizens who have demonstrated an ability and desire to advance the interests of the United States by voluntarily providing “a significant financial gift.” The program aims to prioritize the admission of successful entrepreneurs, investors, and businesspeople to the United States using the existing employment-based extraordinary ability (EB1-1) and exceptional ability/national interest waiver (EB2-NIW) immigrant preference categories.
USCIS Form Update of December 10, 2025
Following the Gold Card Executive Order, on December 10, 2025, USCIS posted a new form titled I-140G, Immigrant Petition for the Gold Card Program and filing instructions on its website. Based on the instructions, applicants must first register for the program, and then pay a $15,000 application fee for each applicant, including dependent family members. Individual applicants must then file Form I-140G, Immigrant Petition for the Gold Card Program with USCIS online and make an unrestricted “gift” to the United States government of $1 million per applicant, including dependents, to the Department of Commerce. To note, the $1 million payment is made only after the applicant has passed a comprehensive security check and has been provided approval of Form I-140G; however, payment is made prior to approval of green card/immigrant visa status.
Corporations and similar entities may file an I-140G on behalf of the individual and give a $2 million gift for the principal applicant (employee) and $1 million for each dependent family member. Once the $1 million payment is made, it may not be refunded to the applicant under any circumstances. An application could still be denied at a later stage of the immigration process (e.g., during the final visa interview) for reasons such as national security concerns, in which case too, the $1 million payment would not be refundable. Information is not yet available on the next steps in the process, but based on existing immigrant visa programs, the applicants would then go through the immigrant visa or adjustment of status process to obtain lawful permanent resident status.
Legal Issues
By using existing immigrant visa categories to attach statutory authority to the Gold Card program, the administration bypassed the need for congressional action to create a new immigrant visa category. However, current regulations for the EB1-1 and EB2-NIW categories are specific and do not include or contemplate the Gold Card Program. Pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act to change exiting regulations, an agency must go through the Notice-and-Comment Rulemaking process. The Department of Homeland Security indicated on its Spring 2025 unified regulatory agenda that it will publish a rule on employment-based first, second, and third immigrant visas, but at the time of writing, the proposed regulation has not been published.
A successful Gold Card applicant would still be required to obtain an immigrant visa number and, depending on the applicant’s country of birth and employment-based priority visa classification, the applicant may still be required to wait in line for several years based on visa availability as determined by the United States State Department Visa Bulletin. Applicants born in India may have a 13-year wait in the EB2-NIW category (those born in mainland China, 5.5 years, and all other foreign nationals, an approximate 2-year wait). The United States State Department Visa Bulletin can be found here.
Until regulations have been published and legal issues resolved, the Gold Card Program should be considered with caution. As many, if not most, applicants eligible for the Gold Card Program may qualify for another immigrant visa category, applicants would be well-advised to review all options with immigration counsel before proceeding with the Gold Card Program.
