The Trump administration announced key business immigration policy changes in the last weeks of 2025. These developments build on prior announcements involving the “Trump Gold Card” program offering a high-cost path to permanent residence and a fundamental overhaul of the H-1B cap selection process that prioritizes higher paid, higher skilled workers.
Trump Gold Card
Applications are now open for the Trump Gold Card, a new program that allows individuals and businesses on behalf of their employees to obtain permanent residency in the United States with a large financial gift. To apply for a Trump Gold Card, an individual must submit an online Gold Card application, pay a $15,000 processing fee per person, and complete a Form I-140G, the immigrant petition for Gold Card Program. The Trump Gold Card requires a $1 million gift by each applicant, including the primary applicant and any qualifying, applying family members. The administration also announced a Corporate Gold Card, allowing a company to sponsor one of its employees and requiring a $2 million per employee gift. Upon successful vetting, the applicants for these new programs will be asked to submit the required gift as evidence that the individual will “substantially benefit the U.S.”
Questions abound regarding the implementation of the Trump Gold Card, including how it fits into the EB-1 extraordinary ability and EB-2 national interest waiver (NIW) requirements and the impact the program will have on the availability of green cards in those classifications. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is expected to publish a draft rule this month that will update requirements for the EB-1 extraordinary ability and outstanding researcher/professor categories as well as the EB-2 NIW category, among other announced changes.
New H-1B Weighted Selection Process
DHS has finalized a rule changing how H-1B cap-subject petitions are selected. This new weighted process prioritizes the selection of higher-skilled and higher-paid foreign workers.
This new role, effective for the upcoming fiscal year 2027 H-1B cap registration season, implements a weighted lottery system based on Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) wage levels. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will run a weighted lottery for H-1B cap petitions if, as anticipated, USCIS receives more registrations than those congressionally allocated for the H-1B cap program. Under this new process, each unique beneficiary will be entered into the selection pool a designated number of times based on the wage level associated with the job offer.
Weighting System by Wage Level:
- Wage Level I: 1 entry
- Wage Level II: 2 entries
- Wage Level III: 3 entries
- Wage Level IV: 4 entries
The new weighted selection process represents a significant shift in the H-1B program. It will complicate employers’ hiring of foreign national professionals who are recent university graduates and may also disincentivize employers from selecting candidates for H-1B registration generally. Employers should review the requirements carefully.
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