An EB5 Rural Area TEA Project is the product of investments from foreign investors who wish to qualify for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program. An EB5 rural area is a region outside a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) and cannot have a population of more than 20,000 or be on the border of a municipality with more than 20,000 residents. A targeted employment area (TEA) is a region that is in need of economic growth and job creation. A TEA can be a rural area or a region with high unemployment rates. The EB-5 Visa Program grants eligible foreign investors permanent residence (Green Card) through a minimum investment that leads to at least 10 full-time jobs for Americans.
An investment in an EB-5 Rural Area TEA Project requires a lower minimum investment of $800,000. Investors in an EB 5 Rural TEA Project get priority processing for their petitions and an allotment of 20% reserved visas as per the Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) of 2022. The priority processing and visa set-asides quicken the process of obtaining an EB5 Green Card for investors coming from countries with visa backlogs such as China and India.
Table of Contents
What is an EB5 Rural Area TEA Project?
An EB5 Rural Area Targeted Employment Area (TEA) project is an investment made outside a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) to qualify for the EB-5 Visa Program. An EB5 rural area cannot have a population of more than 20,000 or be on the border of a municipality with more than 20,000 residents. An EB5 targeted employment area (TEA) is a census tract or collection of census tracts identified by the U.S. Congress as having a need for economic development and job creation. A TEA can be a region with high unemployment or rural areas.
The EB-5 Visa is an immigrant program for foreign investors who are able to finance a U.S. business with minimum capital. The minimum capital investment has to generate at least 10 full-time jobs for American citizens. Obtaining an EB-5 Visa grants foreign investors and their dependents permanent residence (Green Card) in the United States.
How Does an EB5 Rural Area TEA Project Work?
An EB5 Rural TEA Project requires a reduced minimum investment of $800,000 from foreign investors. Investing in an EB5 Rural TEA Project expedites the processing of EB-5 petitions in rural TEAs under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) of 2022. Rural EB5 Project investors are allotted 20% EB-5 Visa set-asides out of the total annual allotment of 10,000 EB 5 Visas.
A Rural EB5 Project can be made through direct investment or a regional center project. A direct investment leads to direct jobs in the targeted employment area without the involvement of third-party intermediaries. Direct investments require foreign investors to be directly involved in the management and operation of the Rural EB5 Project. A regional center is an economic unit approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that pools EB-5 investments to create direct, indirect, and induced jobs. Indirect and induced jobs result from the economic stimulation in the TEA area brought on by the EB 5 rural project.
Get to know more about the different types of EB5 Investment Projects.
What are the Advantages of an EB5 Rural Area TEA Project?
Investing in an EB5 Rural Area TEA project is particularly beneficial for foreign investors applying from countries with significant visa retrogression (backlog) such as China and India. The Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) of 2022 allowed for the priority processing of EB-5 petitions of investors in a Rural Area TEA Project. Investors in Rural EB5 TEA Projects are additionally reserved 20% of the total EB-5 Visas allocated annually. Investors in EB5 TEA Projects enjoy the lower minimum investment requirement of only $800,000 as opposed to the $1,050,000 investment for non-TEA projects.
What are the Disadvantages of an EB5 Rural Area TEA Project?
Foreign investors should be aware of potential risks associated with a rural area TEA EB5 Project. A Rural Area TEA Project has a smaller scope and less capital for job creation because of the low population and the need for economic stimulation in the rural area. Most Rural EB5 TEA Projects are concentrated in the hospitality sector which is dependent on tourism. There must be a heavy influx of tourism in the rural area to allow the EB5 TEA Project to thrive. These limits of an EB5 rural TEA pose immigration risks for foreign investors especially in meeting the minimum job creation requirement of the EB-5 Visa Program.
How to Qualify for an EB5 Rural TEA Project?
An EB5 Rural TEA Project is an EB-5 investment made in any region outside a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) assigned by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Rural TEA must have less than 20,000 residents and cannot be near the boundary of a region with more than 20,000 residents as per the latest 10-year U.S. census. Census tracts are small statistical areas delineated by the Census Bureau which can be combined to form a TEA. Census tracts typically have between 1,200 to 8,000 residents.
Uniform federal EB-5 rules govern state agencies but they may differ in their processes when it comes to TEA area designation. Some state agencies permit EB5 petitioners to submit a request for a TEA letter if the region of the EB-5 project does not automatically fall under a specific census tract or rural area. You can use the FFIEC Geocoding/Mapping System on the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council website to generate the census tract number of the EB5 project address and find out if it is located in an MSA. The TEA tool from Invest in the USA (IIUSA) website makes use of a TEA map that indicates if the region is a rural area, a high unemployment area, or a non-TEA.
Here are the requirements needed for EB5 Rural Projects.
- Minimum investment of $800,000.
- Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor submitted to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
- A business plan describing the EB5 rural TEA project and how the minimum 10 full-time jobs will be created.
Head to our page on EB 5 USA Investor Visa for more information about the Immigrant Investor Program and its requirements.
How Much Do I Need to Invest in a Rural EB5 Project?
The minimum investment in EB5 Rural Projects is $800,000. The minimum investment must be proven to come from legal sources of funds such as bank statements, property sales, tax returns, and payslips.
Learn more about EB5 Investment Amount.
What is the Future of the Rural TEA Project?
EB5 Rural Projects are expected to grow from 2022 onward because of the advantages that the 2022 RIA has affected in the EB 5 Visa Program. Investing in EB5 Rural Projects benefits foreign investors in terms of immigration and investment. The priority processing for petitioners who invested in EB5 Rural Projects allows for faster application of the EB-5 Visa and attainment of permanent resident (Green Card) status for investors and their dependents. Rural EB5 Project investors are additionally allotted 20% of visas set-asides from the total EB-5 Visas issued. The reserved visas and priority processing are particularly beneficial for investors coming from China and India with years of backlog in their application for their EB5 Green Card. Investments in a rural TEA can potentially have higher rates of return as the TEA zone begins to develop compared to more saturated urban areas.
What are the Top EB-5 Rural TEA Projects?
Top EB-5 rural TEA projects are in the hospitality and real estate industries. A real estate EB5 project easily meets the required number of jobs such as single-family residential homes in the state of Georgia with more than 24 jobs created for each EB-5 investor. Combined real estate and hospitality projects such as in the state of Utah featuring resort and residential lodging estimate about 3% of annual returns to individual EB-5 investors.
Call us to find out about our current Rural TEA EB-5 Projects list.
What is I-526?
Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor is the first step in filing an EB5 petition to the USCIS. Foreign investors file their I-526 after investing or once they are in the process of investing in an EB-5 project. EB-5 investors in a rural area TEA have to give evidence regarding the location of the project and the area’s population. Qualifying as an EB5 rural area TEA project expedites the processing of I-526 Form for foreign immigrant investors.
What is a High Unemployment TEA?
A high unemployment TEA is a type of targeted employment area. A TEA is described as having high unemployment if the region has experienced at least 150% of the national average unemployment rate. High unemployment TEAs have to be in an MSA with over 20,000 residents. Both rural areas and high unemployment TEAs are governed by the RIA of 2022 which quickens the petitioning for EB-5 petitions in the USCIS.
How Does USCIS Define a Rural Area for EB-5 Investment?
The USCIS defines a rural area as any region other than an area located in a standard MSA as designated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), or within the border of any region that has more than 20,000 residents based on the most recent decennial U.S. census.
List of States with Targeted Employment Areas
An EB5 targeted employment area can be a rural area or a region of high unemployment. Here are the U.S. states with certified TEA EB-5 Projects list.
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- South Carolina
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
Are Rural Areas Considered TEA?
Yes, rural areas qualify for EB5 TEA Projects. A rural area must have a population of less than 20,000 and be located outside an MSA or not within the boundary of an area with more than 20,000 residents to qualify as a TEA.
Does a Rural TEA Project Investment Make You Eligible for a Reserved EB-5 Visa?
Yes, investing in a Rural TEA Project qualifies you for a Reserved (Set Aside) EB-5 Visa. Reserved EB-5 Visas are specifically allocated to investors in TEA and infrastructure projects, ensuring that an immigrant visa is available for these investors. Rural TEA investors are allotted 20% of the total 32% Reserved EB-5 Visas available each year.