The US already has an investment visa....the EB-5.

The problem with the current system is that its pretty opaque on how to conform to its rules. You need to invest in "new enterprises that hire 10 or more employees and invest over $800K in specific areas of the country"

All this becomes a headache of how to you monitor & measure all these things.

So really all Trump is doing is "streamlining" the current process (and raising the price).

In the early 2000s I remember reading an article that posited this idea and taking even one step further: The sale of citizenship could also be financed. So a new immigrant arrives, and like buying a house, must put down 10-20% and then needs to pay off the balance over 20 years.

Wow, that's totally crazy. You buy nationality, if that's what you can call it, if you have a certain amount of money and you can invest it. But what will those who don't have that possibility do? I'm talking about Latin immigrants who will never be able to do that in any way.

I don't think most foreigners who have amassed so much wealth outside of America that they could throw $5M at a US citizenship path would care to do so. First of all, you've already made it. Once you have that kind of money, you can live like a king in most countries around the world. Not to mention, you are likely older in life and have deep roots elsewhere.

But most importantly, with that kind of money, why subject yourself to a lifetime of US taxes? Instead, just visit whenever you'd like to as you'd easily be granted visitor status as needed and enjoy the normal residency based taxation that almost every other country in the world adheres to.

This is going to be a wild 4 years