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Federal investigators said in April they found that at least three Chinese investors who obtained green cards through the program were fugitives wanted by Beijing. And the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has opened more than a dozen civil cases since 2013 alleging fraud in projects involving around 2,000 investors and more than $1 billion in funds.

Defenders of the EB-5 program say it creates jobs and provides vital funding for projects across the United States, from massive developments in New York to hotels, restaurants and small businesses in the Midwest and on the West Coast.

“That’s the program working as it should, and more often than not, it is working as it should,” said Matthew Galati, a Philadelphia-based attorney who helps Chinese investors migrate to the U.S.

Canada’s program drew an estimated $2.4 billion through Chinese investors over the past decade, but the national government ended it in 2014, saying that it “significantly undervalued” Canadian residency and created little economic benefit. The province of Quebec has kept in place its separate program, which has drawn at least $1.9 billion from Chinese investment.

And a former Portuguese interior minister and other senior government officials have been on trial since February for corruption, influence-peddling and misconduct in handling “golden visa” applications of investors linked to three Chinese businessmen. Hungary suspended its program selling visas for government bonds earlier this year after opposition parties and watchdogs accused it of corruption.

Ironically, calls to end investment migration programs often end up as marketing tools for the hundreds of agents selling them in China. One agent made note of proposals to change the EB-5 program by saying, “Do not hesitate, and act quickly!”

Du Juan attended a seminar in Beijing held by an investment group pitching ski resorts and other projects. She knows the potential danger of investing through the U.S. program, but she’s willing to bear the risk as long as she can get her 10-year-old daughter enrolled soon in an American school.

“I don’t worry about the $500,000, but I worry about the loss of time,” Du said. “I am afraid that we’ll be unable to get the visa when we need it.

SLOWING THE FLOW

There are signs that China is trying to slow down the migration. These investors are among the category of people China hopes will buy its domestically made rice cookers, electric cars and energy-saving light bulbs to fuel a new chapter of consumer-led growth. Research by McKinsey shows that the upper-middle class already accounts for a fifth of China’s private consumption in cities.