A business run by the family of President Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law is being probed for how it uses the US "golden visa" program for high net worth individuals.

Controversy about use of the US investment-for-visa program, known as EB-5, has resurfaced amid a report that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the real estate company run by the family of President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The firm is being probed for its use of the EB-5 program, the Wall Street Journal said, citing unnamed sources.

The WSJ said that last May Kushner Cos received a subpoena from the SEC requesting information about its use of the program. The company has also received a separate subpoena from New York federal prosecutors asking for information about development projects financed in part by the EB-5 program. The report said the SEC investigation is being carried out by the organization’s Texas office in collaboration with federal prosecutors from the Brooklyn US attorney’s office. Spokespersons for both offices declined to comment, the news service said.

The matter is another example of how investment-for-visa programs, sometimes dubbed “golden visas”, can cause political controversy. In the UK, the government has hiked the minimum investment size to £2 million and there have been calls at times to end it. Jurisdictions such as Canada have put their programs on hold, while other countries such as Spain, Portugal and Malta operate these programs to encourage inward investment.

As reported by Family Wealth Report last March, wealthy Chinese citizens have been among the most enthusiastic applicants for the EB-5 program. As this publication noted some time ago, there is the seemingly incongruous fact that while China’s economy has been relatively strong in recent years (albeit slowing from the hectic pace a decade ago), there has been a notable trend of HNW Chinese individuals trying to get a second passport, or emigrate completely. (Some of that desire to get out may be caused by worries that China’s ruling Communist Party is not relaxing its grip on power.) Shanghai’s Hurun Research Institute noted more than three years ago that some 64 per cent of high net worth individuals whom it surveyed (393 HNW and UNHW individuals) were either emigrating or wanted to do so.

In recent years there has been discontent about alleged abuses of the US system. Two years ago it was reported that the desire for Chinese persons to acquire foreign nationality has led to problems.

Chinese investors, numbering several thousand annually, have been reported by media to account for as much as 85 percent of the annual EB-5 investor total.