US President Donald Trump’s “gold card” visa, where a foreigner can shell out at least US$1 million to legally live and work in the US, has been approved for one person, said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Thursday – appearing to fall a bit short of an earlier claim.

After it launched in December, Lutnick said that the government had sold US$1.3 billion “worth” in just several days, as Trump stood by holding up the gilded ticket and said, “essentially it’s the green card on steroids.”

Lutnick did not address the apparent discrepancy in an exchange with a congresswoman at Thursday’s committee hearing.

Trump pushed the idea last year, initially suggesting a cost of US$5 million, and arguing that it would entice foreign talent to US shores and fill out federal coffers.

It is meant to replace the EB-5 programme, a decades-old programme that offered US visas to people who invested about US$1 million in a company with at least 10 employees.

Though only one person has been approved, “there are hundreds in the queue that they are going through”, Lutnick said, appearing pleased with the programme’s results, at a congressional committee hearing on Thursday.