‘Very nice people’: Trump says new ‘gold card’ residence permit for wealthy foreigners may be open to Russian oligarchs

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration plans to introduce “gold card” permanent residence permits that would cost $5 million each.

“Wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card, they'll be wealthy and they'll be successful, and they'll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people,” Trump told reporters at the White House. He said the cards will start being sold in about two weeks.

When asked whether he would consider selling the cards to Russian oligarchs, the president reportedly said, “Yeah, possibly. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”

Axios notes that the “gold card” plan would replace the U.S.’s existing EB-5 program, which was launched in 1990 and offers green cards to people who invest in the country. The outlet said it wasn’t clear whether the Trump administration could end or change the current program without Congress.