Visa push a ‘conflict of interest'

Senator Dianne Feinstein said that an effort by the sister of senior White House adviser Jared Kushner to offer United States visas to Chinese investors is a “stark conflict of interest” and called for the programme’s elimination.

Nicole Kushner Meyer at the weekend appeared at an event urging Chinese citizens to invest US$500,000 ($724,690) each in a New Jersey luxury apartment building that her company plans to develop.

Jared Kushner previously oversaw the project until he left the company this year to be a senior adviser to President Donald Trump.

Meyer’s connection to Kushner was mentioned during the sales pitch, and the company said yesterday that it “apologises if that mention of her brother was in any way interpreted as an attempt to lure investors”.

Feinstein, a California Democrat, had introduced legislation earlier this year with Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, that called for the EB-5 visa programme to be eliminated. Other members of Congress had put forward a proposal to overhaul the programme, including raising the minimum investment from US$500,00 to US$1.3 million.

However, with the programme set to expire, Congress last week extended it without instituting reforms. Trump, who has called for strict enforcement of immigration laws, signed the extension as part of a massive spending bill.

Meyer then gave her presentation in Beijing.