The Trump administration was sued in federal court on Tuesday over its Gold Card visa program, which grants wealthy individuals expedited access to U.S. permanent residency in exchange for payments of at least $1 million.
The lawsuit was filed in the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., by the American Association of University Professors and a group of immigrant professionals who argue that the program violates federal immigration law by prioritizing financial contributions over the merit-based criteria Congress established for employment-based visas.
Why It Matters
The Gold Card program, created under a September 2025 executive order, allows individuals or corporations to qualify for EB-1 and EB-2 employment-based visas through payments of $1 million from individuals or $2 million from corporate sponsors.
The Gold Card program is one of several changes the Trump administration has made to legal immigration. In January, the State Department suspended visa approvals for applicants from 75 countries, a policy that has been challenged in federal court, including in a separate lawsuit filed in Manhattan this week. The administration has also imposed additional restrictions on asylum seekers and refugee admissions, further limiting legal pathways for immigration.
What To Know
Plaintiffs argue that the program converts visas intended for individuals with extraordinary ability or advanced professional qualifications into a payment-based, fast-track system, diverting limited visa numbers and government resources from scientists, researchers, engineers and other professionals already waiting in backlogged queues.
“Rather than reserving those visas for the world’s best and brightest, the Gold Card program converts those visas into revenue-generating commodities sold to the highest bidder,” the lawsuit said.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the Gold Card program unlawful and halt its implementation.
President Donald Trump and several senior administration officials—including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick—are named as defendants in the lawsuit, as are multiple federal agencies.
The lawsuit also raises constitutional concerns, adding that the executive branch lacks authority to alter congressionally established visa programs without legislative approval.
What People Are Saying
Sarah Wilson, a partner and federal litigation practice leader at Colombo & Hurd, said in a statement shared with Newsweek: “Congress created a clear, merit-based framework for employment-based immigration, with strict limits on who qualifies and how visas are allocated. The Gold Card program attempts to bypass that system by treating wealth as a substitute for statutory eligibility and, in doing so, it harms the scientists, researchers, and professionals who have played by the rules and waited their turn. When visas are capped and backlogged, creating a paid fast lane inevitably pushes qualified people further back.”
Allison Zieve, the director of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, said in a statement shared with Newsweek: “This case concerns yet another of the many instances in which this administration is defying federal statutes to advance short-term policy preferences. It also concerns yet another of the many instances in which this administration is defying the Constitution, under which no administration—and no president—is above the law.”
What Happens Next
The court is now set to review the lawsuit to determine whether the Gold Card program violates federal law.
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