Are you planning to immigrate to the United States through the EB-5 Program, but wondering what a targeted employment area (TEA) is? We are here to help. Below we are going to go over the types of TEAs and the qualifications of each. If you do not know what a TEA is, read on to find out why it’s necessary when going through the EB-5 Visa Program. Learn more about targeted employment area texas using the link.
What Is TEA and Why Does It Matter?
TEA is essential because it accomplishes two things. First, they allow investors to start their EB5 Visa Program journey with $500,000 instead of the usual $1.8million. Second, it helps the targeted employment area’s economy by creating jobs and tax revenue that the TEA could not generate.
Several investors wanting to immigrate to the United States through the EB 5 visa program usually have to invest $1.8million. However, it is possible to immigrate to the U.S. through the EB 5 program with only an investment of $500,000. The reason investors can do this is that the project is within a targeted employment area or TEA.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services(USCIS) recognizes two types of TEA areas:
- High Unemployment Areas
- Rural Areas
High Unemployment Areas
To qualify for a high unemployment area, the Regional Center must prove that:
l The project is in a metropolitan statistical area
l The area is experiencing an unemployment rate that is 150% higher than the national average
Metropolitan statistical areas are known as regions of the United States with a dense population at its center. An MSA based-economy on the businesses located within it. Two good examples of MSA are large cities like New Your City in New York and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. It is the U.S. Office of Management and Budget that designates what is or isn’t an MSA. Population alone does not make the region a high unemployment area.
Another crucial factor to consider is if the unemployment rate of the desired investment area is 150% of the national average. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the national unemployment average as 4%. That means the high unemployment area should have an average unemployment rate of 6% to be considered a TEA. Contact abogados de inmigracion texas for more information.
Rural Areas
Rural areas are TEA that:
l Are that not within a metropolitan statistical area
l The recent decennial census shows the population is less than 20,000
It means that your Regional Center project can not be near or inside a large city and can not have a population of more than 20,000 people.
Changes to TEA designations: a summary
Investors and issuers should know that the EB5 news and TEA regulation evolves significantly, both in numbers and impact. It could represent a $900,000 difference so, anyone involved with an EB-5 petition should make sure to get it right. See immigration law firms houston
Here are the key takeaways from this content:
- New rules limit TEA census tracts to just the project tract and the adjacent tracts
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken away TEA decision-making from the states
- Instead of a state letter as TEA evidence, the petitioner must now provide evidence of their own
- Petitioners would not know if their TEA is approved until their I-526 get adjudicated, which could be two or more years into the future
- They look to see if a location qualifies as a high-unemployment TEA under two traditional methodologies — qualifying under both provides a higher level of comfort
- If unemployment data changes, there is less flexibility than in the past
- Smaller projects will likely replace many of the big real estate projects in EB-5
- Nothing has changed with rural TEA designation — and rural designation is less sensitive to the risks associated with changes
- Best practices include using the latest data and checking with an attorney & economist if investing in a TEA designated job creating entity.
