IN THIS GUIDE · A corporate-sponsored Gold Card offer from a hypothetical United States employer, with the gift repaid out of future wages
Start with the GOLD CARD eligibility and application overview
The corporate amounts, per employee and per relative
Where a corporate sponsor is the principal route, the published amounts are a non-refundable US$15,000 processing fee per employee and a US$2 million gift made after successful vetting, when instructed. Each joining legally married spouse and each unmarried child under 21 adds a further US$15,000 and a US$1 million gift, on the corporate side as well. A sponsored employee with a spouse and one child therefore sits at US$4,045,000. Confirm the current published amount and the person responsible for it before signing a reimbursement clause. A calculation may describe a corporate proposal, but it does not decide whether the employer or the employee bears a separate contractual obligation.
A gift is not an investment, and a deduction does not shrink it
The qualifying gift buys no equity, carries no promised dividend or return, and is not EB-5 capital; there is no job-creation requirement attached to it as there is under EB-5. If your employer recovers the money from your salary, the program amount it pays is still US$2 million — the recovery is a separate contractual arrangement between you and the company, and it needs to be read as one. Read any salary-recovery clause for its repayment trigger, duration, tax treatment, and consequence of a departure. The immigration payment and a private repayment promise must be assessed separately before either is presented as settled.
Ongoing corporate obligations and reuse of a gift
The corporate route carries a 1% annual maintenance charge, and 5% where the transfer mechanism is used; neither is an ordinary part of the initial fee. A company may reuse a prior US$2 million gift to sponsor another employee, subject to fresh vetting and the transfer requirements then in force, and the Executive Order process involves the prior holder abandoning status. A company cannot unilaterally reassign someone's residence as though it were property. Keep the sponsor's maintenance and transfer terms with the written program materials, not with an internal employment memo. A later transfer decision may affect corporate arrangements, but it does not give the employer ownership of the person's status.
What the case still turns on
A qualifying gift is evidence of the specified benefit and of eligibility, and corporate evidence about the sponsorship can be relevant to that assessment. It does not remove the need for lawful permanent residence eligibility, admissibility and an available visa, and it guarantees neither approval nor timing nor later citizenship. Lawful permanent residents are taxed on worldwide income, including income earned outside the United States; the program grants no exemption. Decide separately whether the underlying permanent-residence category, admissibility record, and visa availability can support the application. A payment plan cannot cure a missing eligibility fact, and it should not be treated as permission to work before residence is obtained.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.