IN THIS GUIDE · Building an accurate four-person budget before any application is filed
Start with the GOLD CARD eligibility and application overview
The four-person total
Each of the four people carries a nonrefundable US$15,000 DHS processing fee, which is US$60,000 for the household. The principal's gift is US$1 million and each joining spouse or unmarried child under 21 adds a further US$1 million, giving US$4 million in gifts after successful vetting. Program payments therefore total US$4,060,000. Visa, medical, legal, translation, and relocation costs are separate and are not part of that figure. All amounts are in U.S. dollars.
Every child is assessed individually
Inclusion is not automatic because a child lives at home. Each joining spouse and each unmarried child under 21 must be considered in the initial application, and each person must be eligible for lawful permanent residence and admissible in their own right. Gather each child's identity and civil records, and raise anything unusual — a separated parent's consent, an adoption, a guardianship order — with a qualified adviser before filing rather than after.
Age and marital status shape the list
The category described is an unmarried child under 21. In a household with a teenager approaching that age, or a young adult already over it, the composition of the application is a live question rather than a formality. Ask a qualified adviser how each child's age and marital status are treated at the stages that matter, and what the family's options would be for someone who cannot be included. Decide before paying.
Liquidity across the two payment points
The household needs US$60,000 available when the online applications and fees are submitted, and US$4 million available when the government instructs the gifts to be paid after successful vetting. Structuring a sale of assets, a business distribution, or a currency transfer around those two points is a treasury exercise worth planning early. None of it is refundable equity, so the family should confirm what remains afterwards for housing, schooling, and income.
Screen every adult's record before pricing the list
Multiplication is the visible part of a family decision and the least informative. Two features of the process matter more to a household of four than the arithmetic does. First, each person included is assessed on their own record, so the family's position is shaped by whichever history contains the difficulty rather than by the principal's. A refusal years ago, an overstay in someone's twenties, a charge that was resolved, an inconsistency between two applications made long apart — each belongs on the table before a budget is built, because the payment purchases neither a classification nor relief from any ground of inadmissibility. Second, the determination still has to be made under EB-1 or EB-2 and remains subject to visa availability, which means the question of what the principal's record could support is a real question with a real answer, and it should be asked first. Sequence the work accordingly: an honest screening of every adult, then an assessment of the classification ground, then the household list, and only then the figures. Hypothetical example: a household discovers during screening that a straightforward-looking travel history contains an entry that needs explaining, and learns it for the cost of a review rather than for the cost of four nonrefundable fees.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.