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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Inga Parkel

Nicki Minaj shows off her Trump gold card designed to fast-track a path to legal residency

Nicki Minaj has proudly revealed that she is now the owner of a Trump Gold Card.

Launched last month, the card is Donald Trump’s latest immigration effort aimed at attracting the world’s wealthiest, promising legal U.S. residency “in record time” for a $1 million fee.

However, according to the Trinidadian-born rap star, 44, she was gifted the card “free of charge.” On Wednesday night, Minaj shared a picture of the Trump Gold Card resting in her lap, writing on X: “Welp.”

In a separate post, she claimed she wasn’t just receiving permanent residency but citizenship also. “Residency? Residency? The cope is coping,” she said. “Finalizing that citizenship paperwork as we speak as per MY wonderful, gracious, charming President. Thanks to the petition. I wouldn’t have done it without you. Oh CitizenNIKA you are thee moment. Gold Trump card free of charge.”

The president has touted the program as a pathway to citizenship, but the “trumpcard.gov” government website currently notes that it only confers legal residency.

Minaj said she received the Trump Gold Card 'free of charge' (nickiminaj/X)

Minaj previously admitted that she “came to this country as an illegal immigrant at five years old,” in a 2018 Facebook post, criticizing the government’s family-separation policies. “This is so scary to me,” she said. “Please stop this. Can you try to imagine the terror and panic these kids feel right now? Not knowing if their parents are dead or alive, if they'll ever see them again.”

The Grammy-nominated “Anaconda” artist, who recently came out in strong support of Trump, received her Trump Gold Card following her Wednesday appearance alongside Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary at a White House event to promote the children’s investment accounts established under the Trump administration’s partisan spending package.

“Nicki makes a lot of money, and she’s generously stepping up. She’s investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in Trump accounts to support the children and really, really the children of her incredible fans,” the president said.

Trump noted that Minaj has been “a big Trump supporter and a Trump fan” who has taken “a little heat on occasion” from her fans but has remained “an unbelievable supporter” nonetheless.

Asking Minaj and O’Leary to join him on-stage, Trump remarked that Minaj has “been with us all the way.”

Minaj (right) faced extreme backlash for her surprise appearance at Turning Point USA's four-day AmericaFest 2026 summit (Getty Images)

Wearing a puffy white fur-trimmed coat, Minaj said she wasn’t sure what to say but professed herself to be Trump’s “number one fan” while vowing that her support for him was “not going to change.”

“And the hate or what people have to say, it does not affect me at all. It actually motivates me to support him more, and it’s going to motivate all of us to support him more,” she said. “We’re not going to let them get away with bullying him and you know, the smear campaigns, it’s not going to work. OK?”

The “Starships” rapper has faced significant backlash from fans for her public admiration of Trump. During a surprise appearance last month at Turning Point USA’s four-day AmericaFest 2025 summit, she praised him as “handsome” and “dashing.”

“This administration is full of people with heart and soul, and they make me proud of them. Our vice president, he makes me ... well, I love both of them,” Minaj said. “Both of them have a very uncanny ability to be someone that you relate to.”

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