Lutnick reveals that only one person has been approved for Trump's "Gold Card" visa

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday that only one applicant has been officially approved for the "Gold Card" visa pushed a couple of months ago by President Donald Trump, and explained that the low number of approvals is because official authorities have been moving forward very cautiously. "They have approved, recently, one person, and there are hundreds in line. They wanted to make sure they did it perfectly," Lutnick said during his appearance before the House Appropriations Committee.

Despite this fact, the secretary explained that interest has been high and has confirmed the success of the visa proposed by the Republican president, which is a program designed to accelerate the path to U.S. citizenship for wealthy individuals. Several analysts have praised the plan, assuring that it could increase investment in the country and generate more jobs, in addition to strengthening the economy after the numerous problems inherited from the administration of former Democratic President Joe Biden.

Who was approved for the visa?

The implementation of this program comes at a time when the Trump administration continues to expand immigration enforcement measures, pushing what it has described as the largest deportation effort in the country's history. Since the start of Trump's second term, federal authorities have ramped up removal operations.

Under the program's requirements, each applicant must first pay a non-refundable processing fee of $15,000 and, if approved, then make a $1 million payment to the U.S. government. The initiative provides for two eligibility tracks: one for individuals with "extraordinary ability" under the EB-1 criteria and another for those with "exceptional ability" under the EB-2 classification.

While the identity of the approved applicant has not been officially disclosed, media outlet Bloomberg reported Thursday that TP-Link Systems founder Jeffrey Chao filed an applicationand is still awaiting a decision, while his company's ties to China remain under federal review.