India, Sept. 20 -- US President Donald Trump on Friday introduced the "Trump Gold Card" and "Platinum Card" schemes for applicants seeking US residency. The new visa programme, designed for the world's wealthiest individuals, seeks to entice them to immigrate to the US by offering residency permits at a substantial cost.

The announcement coincided with Donald Trump's declaration of a steep $100,000 application fee for the widely used H-1B visa program, a measure expected to impact Indians most severely.

"They're going to spend a lot of money to come in," Trump told reporters Friday in the Oval Office as he signed the order to create the gold and platinum card visa program.

"It's going to raise billions of dollars, billions and billions...