The official materials describe a gift to the U.S. government and a separate non-refundable processing fee, with amounts stated per person for eligible joining family members and different terms for a corporate framework. Verify current figures on the official page before relying on them.
Assume nothing is coming back
Plan the household finances on the basis that a gift is a gift and a non-refundable fee is non-refundable, including if the underlying classification is later refused. That is the conservative reading and it is the safe one for a programme still settling. Beyond those two amounts, budget for the ordinary costs that accompany any immigrant case: professional fees, civil document retrieval, translations, medical examinations and travel. Multiply the per-person items by the number of people actually eligible, which may be fewer than the number in the household. Then ask what the family's position is if the money is paid and the classification is not granted, and decide whether that outcome is survivable. If it is not, the correct step is to resolve the classification question first.
Hypothetical example: A timber-frame contractor is deciding whether to sell equipment or borrow against a commercial building to fund a possible Gold Card payment. The first review should price the gift payment, any separate non-refundable processing charge, tax advice, document collection, translations, and family-related filings from current official sources. A loan valuation or equipment-sale agreement settles available funds, not whether the programme payment will be refundable. Do not describe the transfer as capital that may later be recovered: it is a payment made by the applicant to the U.S. government, not an ownership stake. Confirm every amount and payment instruction immediately before acting because programme terms can change.