The North News
New Delhi, February 27
US President Donald Trump has proposed a scheme allowing American companies to hire foreign graduates from top US universities through a new “gold card” citizenship programme. Speaking on Thursday, Trump claimed that under current immigration rules, talented graduates from countries including India, China, and Japan were forced to leave the US, taking their skills and entrepreneurial ambitions with them. “A person comes from India, China, Japan, lots of different places, and they go to Harvard, the Wharton School of Finance. They are made job offers, but the offer is immediately rescinded because you have no idea whether or not that person can stay in the country,” Trump said.
He suggested that many returning graduates had gone on to launch successful businesses in their home countries, sometimes becoming billionaires. “They go back to India, or they go back to the country where they came from, and they open up a company, and they become billionaires,” he added. Trump also announced plans to introduce “gold cards”—a new route to US citizenship available to wealthy immigrants willing to pay $5 million. The proposed cards would grant green card residency status and a pathway to citizenship, with Trump predicting that one million cards could be sold. The proposal, part of his broader immigration policy pitch, is expected to face scrutiny, particularly from critics who argue it prioritises wealth over merit in the immigration system.
