IN THIS GUIDE · Ask who told you, and check it against the official page
Start with the GOLD CARD eligibility and application overview
Ask where each statement came from
When a term is described — an amount, an eligibility condition, a timeline, a refund position — the immediate question is which official text says so. An intermediary summarising accurately is helpful; an intermediary summarising a version that has since changed is not, and the household cannot tell the difference without checking. Read the current official program page and FAQ directly, save what it says, and note the date. Where a statement cannot be located in the official material, treat it as unverified rather than as a detail the official page happens not to mention.
Ask whether the comparison being offered is real
Intermediaries frequently present this framework alongside EB-5 as two prices for the same outcome, and that comparison is false in its structure. EB-5 capital is invested in a commercial enterprise, remains the investor's, must stay at risk, is tied to creating at least ten full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers, and leads to conditional residence followed by a petition to remove conditions. A gift to the U.S. government is not recoverable and creates none of those obligations or protections. A household should insist that the two be described in their own terms before any comparison is drawn.
Ask what happens if an assessment goes badly
Vetting, eligibility and admissibility apply on their own terms to each intended participant, and payment does not displace them. The questions to answer from the official source are what is assessed, at what point payment is required relative to that assessment, and what happens to funds already committed if the outcome is unfavourable. Where the published material describes a fee as nonrefundable, that is a real exposure and should be recorded as such. A household should not accept a reassuring answer to this question from anyone whose interest lies in the transaction proceeding.
Ask again immediately before committing
Because the terms have changed once, a household's own planning period may span another change. The discipline is to verify twice: once when the route is being explored, and once immediately before any money moves, comparing the current official text against what was saved earlier. If the terms have moved, the decision should be re-taken on the new facts rather than carried forward. This is ordinary caution applied to an obligation whose published details are still developing, and it costs a few minutes against a substantial commitment.
Follow the official payment sequence and individual amounts
After vetting when instructed, the gift to the United States is US$1 million for an individual applicant or US$2 million for a corporate sponsor; each eligible included spouse or child adds US$1 million and processing, including corporate cases. The corporate terms also describe an annual maintenance charge of one percent and a five-percent transfer fee with a new background check if the sponsorship is moved to a replacement employee, and reuse of a corporate gift for a different person is not automatic. The first review should identify the person or corporate sponsor named in the official file, the application reference, the precise requested document, and the payment record associated with that instruction. Follow verified official instructions, and assess tax and financial consequences separately rather than importing proposed programme benefits or an investment repayment assumption.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.