A group of academicians, scientists and high-skilled professionals who are in various stages of applying for employment-based green cards, led by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), have filed a lawsuit with the district court of Columbia, challenging the Trump administration’s controversial ‘Gold Card’ immigration program.
It is perhaps the first lawsuit to mount such a challenge and states that the Gold Card program allows wealthy foreigners to buy fast-track access to US permanent residency (green card) while pushing aside merit-based applicants.
The Gold Card program was created through an executive order issued by President Donald Trump. A $1 million or $2 million (for corporate sponsorship) ‘donation’ to the US Treasury serves as evidence of extraordinary ability (EB-1A) or exceptional ability with a national interest waiver (EB-2-NIW). Each application also entails a $15,000 processing fee. Further, each family member (spouse or child under 21) is also required to pay their own $1 million donation and the processing fee.
Crucially, US law caps the number of green cards that can be issued each year and requires them to be allotted strictly in filing order. The annual limit for employment-based green cards (into which the Gold Cards also fall) is pegged at 1.40 lakh, plus any unused family-sponsored green cards that are passed on to this category, with a per-country limit of 7%. The Gold Card program, by steering green cards toward paying applicants, inevitably crowds out scientists, doctors, researchers and other accomplished professionals who would otherwise qualify under the law.
The complaint lays out several legal flaws. First, it says federal agencies exceeded their statutory authority by creating and implementing the Gold Card scheme. Second, it argues the program violates the long-standing employment-based immigration framework by replacing merit-based standards with wealth-based access. Third, the plaintiffs allege the administration failed to provide a reasoned explanation for such a major policy shift, rendering the move arbitrary and capricious under administrative law. Fourth, they contend the program was rolled out without the mandatory public notice-and-comment process.
In addition, the suit says no statute permits treating a large payment as proof of eligibility for EB-1A or EB-2 with NIW category of green cards, granting expedited processing on that basis, or imposing a special processing fee under a wealth-linked pathway. Nor, it adds, does any law authorise the executive branch to raise revenue by offering immigration advantages in exchange for payments to the commerce department.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the Gold Card program unlawful, strike down the new application process, and order the government to stop treating payments as proof of eligibility. They also seek an injunction blocking any further rollout of the scheme.
If successful, the case could have far-reaching implications for thousands of highly skilled foreign professionals, including Indians who are currently waiting in long green-card queues.
