Start with the GOLD CARD eligibility and application overview
Assess the new immigrant case on its own requirements
Gold Card retains EB-1/EB-2 eligibility, admissibility and immigrant-visa availability conditions. Prior temporary travel permission is not a substitute for that review or a guarantee of a new outcome. A pending immigrant plan does not itself authorize US employment; any proposed trip should be assessed using its real purpose and the actual permission involved. The review should identify the proposed immigrant classification, the person who will be the principal applicant, each accompanying family member and the evidence for admissibility and availability. Gold Card is not a conventional visa category and payment does not erase those independent requirements. A visitor admission, a business success story or an expectation of future employment does not establish eligibility. The applicant must decide whether the underlying immigrant case is ready for review before responding to any official payment instruction.
Keep the official payments and family conditions distinct
Processing is US$15,000 nonrefundable per person. Following successful vetting and official instructions, the principal gift is US$1 million individually or US$2 million corporately. Each eligible included spouse or child adds US$1 million and US$15,000, including corporate cases. Children generally must be unmarried and under 21, with applicable CSPA review. The gift is not EB-5 capital, equity or guaranteed repayment, and a prior visa fee does not establish a Gold Card payment credit. Use only current official instructions before moving money. The required gift is paid by the applicant to the U.S. government following successful vetting and instructions; it is not an equity purchase, a repayable investment or EB-5 capital. Keep proof of the payer, payment path and included relatives with the immigration record. Terms may change, so the payment amount, destination and timing should be re-verified at the time action is required rather than inferred from an earlier announcement.
Follow the official payment sequence and individual amounts
The gift, made when instructed after successful vetting, serves as evidence of the specified benefit the program relies on. Confirm the actual case and official instructions before deriving programme treatment from who paid a private service invoice. An intermediary who supplies banking details by message, asks for urgency, or offers to hold funds in an account of their own is describing an arrangement that the official process does not require. Do not invent a government acceleration option from an adviser’s package name or imply that a higher private fee changes eligibility. Corporate terms also describe 1% annual maintenance and a 5% transfer charge with a new background check; replacement approval is not automatic. What the executive order describes is reuse of the prior gift to sponsor another employee, subject to new vetting and the transfer requirements in force at the time. Under the published framework, payment is made by the individual applicant directly to the U.S. government after the stated vetting sequence; a business, relative or adviser cannot become the applicant merely by supplying funds. If the details connecting the two were entered by a third person, whether an assistant, a relative or a consultant, that person is the first one to speak to, because nothing else moves until the channel is right.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.