Contacted by 3 different Gold Card visa "consultants": are these all scams?

English isn't my first language so bear with me. I'm a real estate developer based in Dubai with about $40M in assets. The Trump Gold Card visa — $5M investment for permanent US residency — is attractive because it's simpler than the EB-5 process. But since the program launched in mid-January, I've been contacted by three different firms and I want to know if any of them are legitimate.

Firm A (London): Charging $200K "facilitation fee" and guaranteeing Gold Card approval within 90 days. They claim to have a "direct relationship with the White House."

Firm B (Miami): Offering a "Gold Card investment fund" where my $5M goes into a pooled real estate vehicle. They say the fund is "pre-approved by USCIS."

Firm C (Dubai): Says they can get me a Gold Card for $3M instead of $5M through a "special early applicant program."

This feels exactly like the EB-5 regional center fraud wave from 2015-2020. Before I invest $5M I need to understand:

• Are any of these firms legitimate? How do I verify?
• What does the official USCIS application process actually look like?
• What are the qualifying investment types?
• Has anyone actually applied through the official channel yet?

Idk but wealth manager in Singapore. Three of my UHNW clients are pursuing Gold Cards and here's how we've structured it — zero intermediaries, zero pooled funds:

• Client 1: Purchasing a $5.3M mixed-use building in Austin directly. Title in his name through a US LLC. Immigration attorney files the Gold Card application with the real estate purchase as the qualifying investment.
• Client 2: $5M in US Treasury securities held in a Schwab brokerage account. Simplest structure — liquid, verifiable, no management required.
• Client 3: $5M equity investment into a US operating company she's launching (food manufacturing). Has to create 10+ jobs, which she's doing anyway.

The common thread: each client directly owns and controls their $5M qualifying investment. No consultants, no funds, no middlemen. The total professional fees are about $30K–$50K (immigration attorney + real estate/securities attorney + CPA), not $200K to a "facilitator."

One important caveat: the Gold Card program faces legal challenges. Multiple lawsuits argue the President lacks authority to create a new visa category by executive order. If the program is struck down, you keep your investment (it's your property) but lose the immigration pathway. Invest in assets with independent value you'd want to own anyway no cap.

Related: Gold Card Visa Tracker on Terms.Law