New Delhi: US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that American companies are now allowed to hire Indian graduates from US universities through the newly rolled out ‘gold card’ citizenship initiative. Seen as a major advantage for Indian students, this move comes after Trump introduced the ‘gold card’ — a new pathway to US citizenship for affluent foreign investors who are ready to invest $5 million.
Trump was quoted as saying by ANI: “A person comes from India, China, Japan – lots of different places and they go to Harvard, the Wharton School of Finance, they go to Yale they go to all great schools, and they graduate number one in their class, and they made job offers, but the offers immediately rescinded because you have no idea whether or not that person can stay in the country.”
‘They can use it as a matter of recruitment’
To address this issue, the US president launched the gold card system. Trump pointed out that a company can purchase a gold card and use it for recruitment purposes.
Trump said he wanted to be able to have that person stay in the country. He added: “These companies can go and buy a gold card, and they can use it as a matter of recruitment. At the same time, the company is using that money to pay down debt we are going to we are going to pay down a lot of debt with that, and I think the gold card is going to be used not only for that. I mean, they will be used by companies.”
The US president underlined that the immigration system has not been efficiently monetised or administered. Trump also voiced concern over companies that want to hire non-American students but are hesitant because of the uncertainty over their immigration status. Trump pointed out that businesses functioning within the US would not be required to pay any tariffs, while those operating outside the country would have to pay them.
He said: “If you are in the country, there is no tariff. If you’re out of the country you got to pay tariffs and that’s going to be a great investment I think that he’s making I know it’s going to be a great investment but we have to be able to get people in the country.”
Trump remarked that he wanted “productive” individuals in the US, and that the $5 million investment would create jobs and help reduce the US debt.
