IN THIS GUIDE · Read the decision you actually received before arranging a move
Start with the GOLD CARD eligibility and application overview
Identify the sender and the stated next step
Keep the complete official notice, its date and the person or case it concerns. Distinguish an acknowledgment from an instruction and an actual decision. If the message is unclear, seek clarification through the applicable official process instead of interpreting an informal summary as permission to relocate. Keep the message in its original form, complete with headers, sender address and any attachment, rather than as a screenshot cropped to the encouraging paragraph. The parts most often cut away are the ones carrying meaning: the reference number, the date, the signature block, and the sentence stating what happens if nothing is done by a given date. Hypothetical example: an employee of an animal-health distributor forwards a single line reading vetting stage complete; the full message, retrieved afterwards, requests three documents within a stated period and states no conclusion at all about the application.
Preserve the sequence of the published program
The current nonrefundable processing charge is US$15,000 per person. Successful vetting and official instructions precede the principal gift: US$1 million for an individual or US$2 million for a corporate-sponsored employee. A corporate sponsor may apply for one or more employees. Sending money early does not replace the required review or establish the immigration result. Check each step against the published terms rather than against a recollection of them, and note the date the source was consulted, since published terms change. Two points belong in the file because conversation commonly reverses them: the payment runs from the applicant to the U.S. government, and it follows vetting and official instructions rather than preceding them. A demand arriving out of that order, or through a channel the published terms do not name, is a reason to verify before paying rather than after. Keep every payment confirmation with its transaction reference and its date.
Check the people and conditions covered
The pathway remains subject to the applicable EB-1 or EB-2 basis, admissibility and visa availability. Identify intended eligible family initially: each joining spouse or unmarried child under 21 adds US$1 million and US$15,000 under the current terms. A notice concerning the principal should not be assumed to resolve every relative’s required steps. Read the addressee line and the body of the notice for names, not for implication. A notice naming only the principal says nothing about anyone else, and the family’s position is established by each person’s own documents: civil records proving the relationship, each child’s date of birth, and the material addressing admissibility. Keep a short roster showing, for every intended family member, which documents exist, which are outstanding, and which have been submitted and when. Where a corporate sponsor is involved, obtain in writing which employees the sponsorship covers and what the employer has undertaken to do.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.