It's a 'shame' students have to go back to India, China after graduating: Trump

New York: US President Donald Trump announced the launch of a million-dollar “Gold Card” offering a pathway for immigrants to US citizenship, saying that it is a “shame” that students from India and China have to go back to home countries.

The Trump Gold Card announced on Wednesday is a visa based upon an individual’s ability to provide a substantial benefit to the United States.

"It is a gift of getting somebody great coming into our country, because we think these will be some tremendous people that wouldn't be allowed to stay,” Trump said during a roundtable in the White House.

Trump added that students graduate from college, “you have to go back to India, they have to go back to China, they have to go back to France. They have to go back to where ever they came from. Very hard to stay. It's a shame.”

Flanked by IBM's Indian-American CEO Arvind Krishna and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, Trump announced that the Gold Card website is live and companies can “buy" the Gold Card to keep the students they hire from top American universities such as Wharton, Harvard and MIT in the US.

Trump said that he has heard from Apple CEO Tim Cook several times and other executives that they cannot hire people from the best colleges because “you don't know whether or not you can keep the person.” Trump said students are “thrown” out of the country.

"You graduate number one from your college, and there's no way of guaranteeing... that they're able to stay in the country.” Trump said Cook spoke to him about this “real problem”.

“It's not going to be a problem anymore. As you know, they used to send people up to Canada and other places, other countries. So we solved that,” Trump said adding that through the Gold Card, the US will take in billions of dollars that will be used for the country.

“So it'll be a great thing. We'll take in, I think, billions of dollars, many billions of dollars even. So that's very exciting,” he said.

Trump added that the companies are now going to be very happy with the Gold Card, which will have greater advantages over a green card that offers permanent residency in the US.

He said companies will be able to go to the schools such as Wharton School of Finance, New York University’s Stern Business School, Harvard, MIT, “wherever you may get your students, any school, and you're able to buy a card and keep that person in the United States. So there's certainty.”

Trump described the Gold Card as a “Green Card, but much better, much more powerful, a much stronger path and a path is a big deal. Have to be great people, but much stronger path”, which also helps companies.

He cited the example that if IBM wants to hire an individual at the top of his or her class at Wharton but can't guarantee the person stays in the country, the company can buy the Gold Card and "that employee can be there for essentially a very long period of time. It's so needed for the companies. It's basically a much better form of green card. And you can't get green cards. They are impossible to get. This is much better than a green card,” Trump said.

The decision came even as pre-scheduled interviews of thousands of H-1B visa applicants slated for later this month in India have been abruptly postponed by several months, apparently to scrutinise their social media posts and online profiles.

The Trump administration has been tightening the H1B visa programme under its broader policy on checking immigration. There has been wider scrutiny now of social media posts and profiles of visa applicants.

Meanwhile, giving details of the Gold Card, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said it will cost one million dollars for an individual and two million dollars for a corporation and will involve “full” and “best” vetting to "make sure these people absolutely qualify to be in America.”

“Then the company can keep them here, and they have a path to citizenship. Obviously, they have to be perfect people in America, and having passed the vetting. After five years, they'll be available to become citizens,” Lutnick said, adding that then the corporation can put someone else on the card.

“For a company they can keep putting people on the card, one person per card, and for an individual, it's a million dollars. And it's a gift to the United States of America, to help America be great again under Donald Trump,” Lutnick said.

Lutnick added that the Trump Gold Card is part of the already approved visas, so this will ensure that only the “great people" come into this country. The average green card holder earned less than the average American, he said adding that “they were more likely to be on the dole and on federal assistance programs than average Americans.

“And the idea is from President Trump, he wants to raise it, bring in the best people into America. So same visas, but now just full of the best people,” Lutnick said.

President Trump officially launched his “gold card” visa, a new immigration pathway that will allow foreigners to pay USD 1 million to expedite their visa application, or have companies pay USD 2 million to sponsor a foreign worker they want to bring into the US.

“Very excitingly, for me and for the country, we’ve just launched the ‘Trump Gold Card,’” the president said at a White House roundtable event.

The visa website, trumpcard.gov, launched Wednesday afternoon and includes a link of the official application, promising “US residency in record time.”

“For a USD 15,000 DHS processing fee and, after background approval, a contribution of USD 1 million, receive US residency in record time with the Trump Gold Card,” the official website reads.