AAUP Files Lawsuit Challenging Gold Card Visa Program as a Pay-to-Play Scheme

The AAUP and a group of immigrant researchers and professionals today filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration's "Gold Card" visa program, which unlawfully sells US residency to wealthy individuals while pushing aside scientists, researchers, engineers, and other outstanding professionals whom Congress directed the system to prioritize.

The lawsuit targets a program set up in response to a 2025 executive order that makes individuals eligible for EB-1 and EB-2 immigrant visas based solely on payments of at least $1 million by individuals or $2 million by corporations, and disregards whether they meet Congress's merit-based requirements. Administered by the Departments of Homeland Security, State, and Commerce, the program illegally converts employment-based visa categories designed to bring the best and brightest to the United States into a payment-based fast lane, the complaint explains.

By diverting limited visa numbers and agency resources to those who can pay for expedited treatment, the program threatens to lengthen wait times and deny opportunities to qualified professionals waiting in line. The lawsuit asks the court to declare the Gold Card program unlawful and to halt its implementation.

"The Gold Card, which privileges wealthy immigrants over others, is part of a larger attack on immigrants, research, and higher education," said AAUP President Todd Wolfson. "This unlawful program directly harms our members and the public. We stand firmly against it."

Read the complaint here.