Trump Announces Launch of Gold Card, Criticises Students Being Forced to Leave After Graduation

PTI, NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 11, 2025: US President Donald Trump announced the launch of a million-dollar "Gold Card" offering a pathway for immigrants to US citizenship, stating that it is a "shame" that students from India and China have to return to their home countries after graduation.

The Trump Gold Card, announced on Wednesday, is a visa based on 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," the President said during a roundtable at the White House.

Trump added that students who graduate from college often face the hardship of having to return to their home countries. "You 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 wherever they came from. Very hard to stay. It's a shame," he said.

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 retain students they hire from top American universities such as Wharton, Harvard, and MIT.

Trump revealed that he had heard from Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives who face difficulties hiring people from the best colleges because of uncertainty about whether they can retain employees. "You don't know whether or not you can keep the person," Trump said. He added that students are often "thrown out" of the country after graduation. "You graduate number one from your college, and there's no way of guaranteeing that they're able to stay in the country," he said, referencing the concerns voiced by Cook about this "real problem."