US President Donald Trump has said it is a “shame” that students from countries such as India and China have to go back to their home countries after graduating from top American universities, as he touted that the 'Trump Gold Card' will enable companies to hire and retain such talent in the country.

Trump on Wednesday announced the launch of the one million dollar 'Trump Gold Card' that will be a visa programme offering pathway for immigrants to US citizenship.

Trump Gold Card

The Trump Gold Card is a visa based on an individual’s ability to provide a substantial benefit to the United States. "It is a gift to get somebody great coming into our country, because we think these will be some tremendous people that wouldn't be allowed to stay. They graduate from college, you have to go back to India, they have to go back to China, they have to go back to France. They have to go back to wherever they came from. Very hard to stay. It's a shame. It's a ridiculous thing. We're taking care of that,” Trump said during a roundtable in the White House.

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Flanked by IBM's Indian-American CEO Arvind Krishna and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, Trump announced that the Gold Card website is live and companies can “buy" the Gold Card to keep the students they hire from top American universities such as Wharton, Harvard and MIT in the US.

Trump said that he has heard from Apple CEO Tim Cook several times and other executives that they cannot hire people from the best colleges because “you don't know whether or not you can keep the person.” Trump said students are “thrown” out of the country.

"You graduate number one from your college, and there's no way of guaranteeing... that they're able to stay in the country.” Trump said Cook spoke to him about this “real problem”. “It's not going to be a problem anymore. As you know, they used to send people up to Canada and other places, other countries. So we solved that,” Trump said adding that through the Gold Card, the US will take in billions of dollars that will be used for the country.

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“So it'll be a great thing. We'll take in, I think, billions of dollars, many billions of dollars even. So that's very exciting,” he said. Trump added that the companies are now going to be very happy with the Gold Card, which will have greater advantages over a green card that offers permanent residency in the US.

He said companies will be able to go to the schools such as Wharton School of Finance, New York University’s Stern Business School, Harvard, MIT, “wherever you may get your students, any school, and you're able to buy a card and keep that person in the United States. So there's certainty.”

Trump calls Gold Card much powerful

Trump described the Gold Card as a “Green Card, but much better, much more powerful, a much stronger path and a path is a big deal. Have to be great people, but much stronger path”, which also helps companies.

He cited the example that if IBM wants to hire an individual at the top of his or her class at Wharton but can't guarantee the person stays in the country, the company can buy the Gold Card and "that employee can be there for essentially a very long period of time. It's so needed for the companies. It's basically a much better form of green card. And you can't get green cards. They are impossible to get. This is much better than a green card,” Trump said.

(With inputs from agency)