US terminates green card lottery as it totes 'Trump Gold Card' fees Submitted by MEE staff on Fri, 12/19/2025 - 20:43 Trump is ending free green card lottery as it bans immigration from Arab and African countries while trumpeting its new elite visa US President Donald Trump holds a 'Trump Gold Card' during an event in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on 19 December 2025 in Washington, DC (Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP) Off The Trump administration will suspend a green card lottery, saying that a man believed to be behind both a mass shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island and the killing of an MIT professor in his home entered the US via the system. Investigators said late on Thursday that Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese man, was the gunman who burst into a building at the Ivy League school, killing two and wounding nine with gunfire. He also killed Nuno Loureiro, also from Portugal, who was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with whom he had previously studied, two days later, according to police. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media on Thursday that Valente entered the US through the diversity lottery immigrant visa programme in 2017 and was granted a green card. "At President Trump's direction, I am immediately directing USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) to pause the DV1 program to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program," Noem said. The timing of the decision, however, could also be convenient for the US as it seeks to monetise the US immigration process further. Lottery out, 'Gold Card' in? US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Friday that the US had generated $1.3bn “in a couple of days” by selling "Trump Gold Cards". The gold card grants permanent residency, like a green card, at a much higher price. Applicants have to pay a $15,000 Department of Homeland (DHS) security processing fee, undergo a background check, and contribute $1m to the US to receive residency “in record time”, the US government says . The US is also rolling out a "Trump Platinum Card" that requires a $15,000 DHS processing fee and a $5m contribution. The card will allow non-US taxpayers to spend up to 270 days in the US without being subject to US taxes on non-US income. Trump draws condemnation for expanding travel ban, barring Palestinians Read More » The idea is not novel. Many Mediterranean countries, including Turkey , Greece , Italy and Spain, started similar "Golden Visas" following the 2009 financial crisis. Spain ended the programme this year amid a cost-of-living crisis, while Greece, Turkey and Portugal have increased the buy-in costs. The US green card lottery started in 1995. It was popular among foreign nationals seeking to obtain US residency and work authorisation for free. It granted up to 55,000 permanent resident visas annually to people "from countries with low rates of immigration to the US", according to the State Department. The lottery was popular in European countries, for example. Trump has already shut down migration from Arab and African countries. Earlier this week, he expanded that ban to include holders of Palestinian Authority passports and Syrians . The administration framed the move as a national security measure tied to vetting and screening, while critics say it dramatically broadens Trump’s earlier travel ban and disproportionately impacts people from Muslim-majority regions. US Politics News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0