Gold Card Immigration Program Officially Launched
The latest America-first initiative from the Trump Administration promises to expand legal pathways to permanent residency in the United States
On September 19, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) formally establishing the “Gold Card” program, a new gift-based path to permanent residency in the United States.
We feel it is important to clarify the details of what this program entails, which differ significantly from earlier announcements, and how it compares to the long-standing EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.
Gold Card 101: What is it?
According to the EO…
- Agencies charged with the rollout will constitute a $1 million gift as evidence of an extraordinary ability to qualify under EB-1 or EB-2, subject to final rules and adjudication.
- Corporations may sponsor an individual candidate for a $2 million gift.
- The singular $1 million or $2 million gifts are non-refundable.
- Capital contributions are paid directly to the Department of Commerce, with vetting handled by the Department of Homeland Security.
- Overall, the proposed program adopts a fee-for-residency model.
Gold Card: Fact or Fiction
| Claim / Gold Card Feature | Explicitly in the EO | Not in the EO (Ambiguous) |
| Derivative (spouse/children) coverage | The EO makes no mention of derivatives (spouse/children) | The EO does not guarantee that dependents will be included under the same $1 million gift and application as the primary applicant. |
| Expedited adjudication / “expedited processing” | The EO orders that application and adjudication be “expedited…to the extent consistent with law and public safety and national security” | The EO does not specify how fast “expedited” is nor what it entails, or how the current visa backlog in the EB-1/EB-2 visa categories will be resolved. The EO does not override per-country visa caps. Applicants from India or China may face significant wait times. |
| Implementation timeline | The EO gives 90 days to implement procedures: application, adjudication, visa issuance, adjustment of status, when to start accepting “gifts,” fees, etc. | The EO does not commit to a launch date for actual submissions/applications beyond saying agencies must designate the date for accepting gifts. It does not guarantee the program will be fully functional in 90 days or whether an application will encompass families or one individual. |
| Visa category | The EO does not create a new visa category. Instead, it integrates the gift concept into existing employment-based (EB) visa preference categories (EB-1 and EB-2) | The EO does not amend statutory caps, impact per-country limits, or override visa numerical ceilings. |
| Tax treatment / exemption for non-U.S. income | The EO does not include any tax exemptions or rules about taxation of non-U.S. income. | The promise (on tertiary websites) that a “Platinum Card” would allow up to 270 days in U.S. without U.S. tax on non-U.S. income is not in the EO. |
| Relationship to EB-5 | The EO specifies EB-1 and EB-2 as the visa categories aligned with the Gold card. The EO does include a clause wherein agencies could “consider expanding the Gold Card program to visa applicants under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5) . |
The EO does not attempt to terminate or repeal EB-5* or state the Gold Card is a replacement.
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How EB-5 Compares
The Gold Card may appeal to individual applicants willing to pay a non-refundable gift of $1 million, while EB-5 will likely remain the choice for those who prioritize a family-centric immigration path with the possibility of full repayment of capital.
- Gold Card: For a $1 million gift to the U.S. government, the prospective immigrant can apply for an experimental pathway toward an EB-1 / EB-2 Gold Card visa, pending resolution of the proposed rollout and barring any legal challenges of implementation.
- EB-5: For an $800,000 investment**, the prospective immigrant could invest in a job-creating project to qualify for an EB-5 immigrant investor permanent visa.
Both EB-5 and the EB-1/EB-2 Gold Card represent America-first pathways for global investors:
- Gold Card: Underpinned by financial contributions/gifts from prospective immigrants that are aligned to national interest.
- EB-5: Family-centric immigration with a focus on creating American jobs and investment in American communities.
Each serves a distinct and important need of the American people: creating jobs (EB-5) and reducing the national deficit (EB-1/EB-2 Gold Card).
For Additional Resources:
– Comprehensive Guide to the EB-5 Program
– A Data-Driven Look at the EB-5 Program
*EB-5 is fully reauthorized by Congress through September 30, 2027 under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA).
**$800,000 investment amount applies to qualified investments in projects located in a Targeted-Employment Area.
First Investor in CMB Regional Centers Hillwood DTW Air Cargo Project Receives I-526E Approval
CMB Regional Centers (CMB), one of the most experienced regional center operators in the EB-5 industry, today announced the first I-526E approval for an investor in the CMB Group 91 – Hillwood DTW Air Cargo EB-5 project.
Approval of an I-526E petition by United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) indicates an EB-5 investor’s eligibility for permanent residency in the United States. Petitions are adjudicated according to investor-specific criteria. To date, more than 5,700 CMB investors have secured I-526/I-526E approval, indicating their eligibility for conditional permanent residency in the United States.
CMB Group 91 marks the fourth CMB Partnership to begin receiving I-526E approvals over the past two weeks, including:
- CMB Group 81 – Inland Empire Industrial
- CMB Group 86 – Gable House Apartments
- CMB Group 89 – Hillwood City Creek
“It’s refreshing to see more and more adjudications from USCIS for investors in our high-unemployment projects,” said Noreen Hogan, President at CMB. “We’re encouraged at the steady clip of conditional green card approvals we’ve observed and, of course, could not be more thrilled for our investors.”
Hillwood Development Company (Hillwood) utilized CMB Group 91 EB-5 funds as part of the overall financing for the development and construction of an air cargo and support facilities on the footprint of the Detroit Wayne County Metropolitan Airport (DTW). The development is specifically designed to meet the consolidation plans and onsite air operations of the tenant, a Fortune 500 air cargo company. DTW is one of the world’s largest air transportation hubs, with more than 1,100 flights per day, and is operated by the Wayne County Airport Authority.
CMB and Hillwood have cultivated one of the strongest lender-borrower track records in the EB-5 industry. Since 2012, CMB and Hillwood have collaborated on more than 40 EB-5 projects, creating more than 63,000 American jobs and repaying more than $500 million to investors.
The latest collaboration between CMB and Hillwood, CMB Group 100 – Hillwood Flywheel (Build-to-Suit), will include the development and construction of a Class-A build-to-suit distribution facility in Virginia for a manufacturer of toys. The project is currently open for subscription.
About CMB Regional Centers
CMB has assisted over 6,700 investor families, from over 100 countries, in their pursuit of immigrating to the United States through America’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor visa program. CMB currently maintains a 100% project approval rate on all partnerships that have undergone USCIS adjudication. CMB EB-5 partnerships are projected to have created more than 215,000 American jobs.
To date, CMB has repaid over $1.4 billion USD to investors.
To learn more about CMB or CMB Group 100, contact CMB directly at [email protected].
Fiscal Year 2025 Unreserved Visa Limit Reached
As of September 16, 2025, the Department of State (DOS) has reached the annual limit on EB-5 visas from the unreserved category for fiscal year 2025. The DOS statement indicated that the annual limit included carryover of unused EB-5 reserved visas (Rural, High Unemployment Area, and Infrastructure) from Fiscal Year 2023. As a result, embassies and consulates may not issue any further unreserved visas for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends September 30th, 2025.
EB-5 Visa Category Overview:
Each year, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) caps the number of EB-5 visas. Specifically, INA 203(b)(5) allocates 7.1% of the worldwide employment-based visa limit (150,000 in FY25) to EB-5 visas. Of these 10,653 available EB-5 visas, the INA designates 68% (~7,242) for unreserved categories, and 32% (~3,408) for reserved categories including 20% for rural, 10% for High Unemployment Areas, and 2% for infrastructure.
The unreserved category is the largest pool of applicants and includes both the pre-Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) I-526 petitioners and the post-RIA petitioners who are not in a reserved category. According to Lucid’s analysis, there are an estimated 39,238 unreserved visas in the backlog as of January 2025. While the final number of visas issued in FY25 is still unknown, it’s likely that the annual limit in FY25 took a healthy swipe at unreserved backlog. For reference, the DOS issued 14,501 unreserved visas in FY24, when the annual limit was capped in August 2024.
DOS issuing a larger number of unreserved visas is good news because it takes a bite out of the pre-RIA backlog. Since USCIS was slow to adjudicate reserved visas in FY22 and FY23, these became available to the large unreserved pool. In addition, reaching the unreserved cap also prevents potential EB-5 visas being lost to other employment-based categories.
Explaining the carryover in reserved visas
The INA explains that any unused reserve category visas will carry over to the immediate succeeding fiscal year. If they remain unused in that subsequent carryover year, the reserved visas become available to the unreserved category.
Unused reserve visas from 2023 added to the number of unreserved visas issued in FY25. This also occurred last year, when the unused reserve visas from 2022 were added to the FY24 unreserved annual limit.
Looking forward to FY26, of the ~3,653 reserved visas available in FY24, only 423 were issued. Because the recent DOS statement on the unreserved annual limit did not mention the reserved limit, we can assume that the FY25 reserved caps have not been reached either. According to the IIUSA data dashboard, DOS only issued 568 reserved visas as of May 2025 (7 months into the fiscal year). This equates to an average reserved visa issuance of ~81 per month. Therefore, DOS is on pace to issue ~974 reserved visas in FY25 (baring an unforeseen uptick in reserved visa issuance to close out the year). Assuming DOS taps the reserved carryover from FY24 (3,653) before dipping into the FY25 set-aside (3,409), there should still be ~2,680[1] carryover reserved visas from FY24 reallocated to the unreserved category in FY26.
Reserved Visa Concerns
While the delay in adjudicating I-526Es certainly benefits investors in unreserved categories, significant concerns remain for those petitioners in rural, high unemployment areas, and infrastructure projects. Since the passage of RIA in March 2022, USCIS has never reached the annual set aside cap for the reserved visas and the vast majority continue to rollover into the unreserved category.
However, CMB is optimistic that this could change as USCIS nears the completion of the remaining pre-RIA I-526s and diverts all their adjudication efforts to I-526Es with priority on the reserved categories. If this occurs, it is possible that the unused reserved visas from FY25 will remain in their intended place by rolling over and boosting FY26s reserved capacity.
IIUSA filed a lawsuit in 2024, seeking an injunction to prevent the rollover of reserved visas into the unreserved category, to help protect EB-5 investors in reserved categories Had USCIS properly implemented RIA in a timely manner, the reserved visas in FY23 and FY24 would have been used as intended. While the injunction was ultimately not successful, IIUSA heard the concerns of those investors and attempted to take action on their behalf. Our hope is that the adjudication developments in the coming year, as discussed above, will finally enable visa issuance up to the true set-aside cap for reserved visas.
Conclusion
DOS reaching the annual limit on unreserved EB-5 visas for fiscal year 2025 is beneficial to pre-RIA investors due to the reduction in their backlog. Concerns still exist for investors in reserved categories as their set-aside visas continue to rollover into the unreserved queue. USCIS’s goal for FY26 should be to prioritize reserved categories in the coming fiscal year. They have never been in a better position to do so, as the pre-RIA backlog of un-adjudicated cases dwindles. A renewed prioritization by USCIS would hopefully bring sufficient quantities of reserved petitioners to DOS for processing to finally reach the reserved EB-5 visa cap next fiscal year.
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[1] (3,653 FY24 reserved rollover minus estimated 974 FY25 reserved issuance)
Contact Us Today
Throughout our 28 years of experience in the EB-5 industry, we have helped more than 6,700 investors, from over 100 countries in their pursuit of permanent residency in the United States. Contact us to learn more about how CMB Regional Centers can help you and your family achieve your goal of immigration to the United States through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.
EB-5 By The Numbers
A data-driven look at the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program and how CMB Regional Centers delivers clarity, confidence, and results to global investors.
Our EB-5 Track Record
$1.4 Billion
EB-5 capital repaid to CMB investors
1997
CMB’s first Regional Center designation approved by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
92
Partnerships Approved
100%
Approval rate for CMB projects that have undergone USCIS adjudication
6,700+
Investor families that have partnered with CMB on their immigration journey
215,000+
American jobs projected to have been created by CMB projects
Economic Impact of EB-5
1990
The EB-5 program was created by the United States (U.S.) Congress to stimulate the economy through foreign investment and job creation.
$75 Billion
Investment capital generated*
1.7 Million
American jobs projected to be created*
*Data courtesy of an independent analysis of EB-5 investment, 2016 to 2019, prepared by Fourth Economy, A Steer Company.
EB-5 Program Requirements
$800,000
Minimum investment amount (investment must be “at-risk”) for projects in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA), meaning located in a rural or high-unemployment area, and for infrastructure projects. Funds must be lawfully sourced.
$1.05 Million
Minimum investment amount for projects outside a TEA
10
Minimum number of full-time U.S. jobs that must be created or preserved, per investor
Contact Us Today
Throughout our 28 years of experience in the EB-5 industry, we have helped more than 6,700 investors, from over 100 countries in their pursuit of permanent residency in the United States. Contact us to learn more about how CMB Regional Centers can help you and your family achieve your goal of immigration to the United States through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.
