Lawsuit Filed Against Trump Administration’s Implementation Of the “Gold Card” Visa Program
On February 3, 2026, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and six individual researchers filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and their respective agency leads in their official capacity. This lawsuit challenges the federal government’s conception and implementation of the Trump Administration’s “Gold Card” visa program. The visa program was established through executive action, which the plaintiffs claim modifies the framework that governs employment-based immigrant visas.
According to the lawsuit, the “Gold Card” program allows individuals to make a payment of at least $1 million, or a $2 million payment through a corporate sponsor, to the Department of Commerce. The government supposedly treats this payment as evidence of eligibility for certain employment-based immigrant visa categories. These categories include EB-1A (extraordinary ability), EB-2 (exceptional ability), and requests for national interest waivers. The suit further alleges that applications associated with these payments may receive expedited processing and priority consideration. This comes despite statutory annual caps on the EB-1 and EB-2 visa categories and existing requirements that visas be allocated based on statutory eligibility criteria and filing order. The plaintiffs argue that the “Gold Card” program is a “pay-for-play” program that unlawfully replaces the current employment-based visa system by prioritizing the wealth of the donors to the “Gold Card” program over the intellect or ability of the existing applicants.
The plaintiffs state that Congress has established detailed eligibility standards, numerical limits, and allocation rules for employment-based immigrant visas through the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and that no ruling authorizes the executive branch to replace a monetary payment for those eligibility requirements or to give applicants based on payment priority. The lawsuit further alleges that the “Gold Card” program changes how visa eligibility is assessed and affects the availability of visas within these capped categories. This then impacts applicants who seek visas under the existing statutory framework.
The lawsuit goes on further to assert violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), stating that the agencies that implemented the “Gold Card” program did so without involving required notice-and-comment rulemaking. Further, they implemented this program without providing a reasoned explanation for the policy changes that are introduced by the program. The plaintiffs seek declaratory relief that the program is unlawful and injunctive relief to prevent its continued operation. As this matter is ongoing, we will be sure to monitor any progression and update our website accordingly. We recommend readers to visit our website to know the latest information on this and all matters related to immigration law.