The high-unemployment EB-5 category is a reserved visa category introduced by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA). Under this category, foreign investors and their dependent family members are granted permanent residence status in exchange for their investment in areas of high unemployment (also called “urban” targeted employment areas, or TEAs).
In this article, we’ll look at the benefits of investing in high-unemployment TEAs and which investors benefit most from choosing projects that are located in these areas.
What Areas Qualify as High-Unemployment TEAs?
Advantages of Investing in Urban TEAs
Who Benefits the Most From Urban TEA Investments?
TEA Investments for Indian and Chinese Investors
EB5AN Offers USCIS-Approved Urban TEA Projects
What Areas Qualify as High-Unemployment TEAs?
Under the EB-5 program, a high-unemployment area is an area that has an average unemployment rate of 150% or higher than the national average.
For your investment to qualify as an urban TEA investment, the EB-5 project you choose must be located in an area designated as a high-unemployment area at the time of your Form I-526E filing. This means that confirming the urban TEA status of an EB-5 project’s location is crucial before investing.
Advantages of Investing in Urban TEAs
Investing in high-unemployment TEAs offers various benefits to EB-5 investors. Below are some of the advantages of urban TEA investments.
Lower Investment Threshold
The standard minimum investment requirement for the EB-5 program is $1,050,000.
However, to attract development and create employment opportunities in areas of high unemployment, the government has set a lower investment threshold of $800,000 for TEAs. While the intent of this reduced investment threshold is to benefit local economies, it has the dual effect of making it less expensive for investors to participate in the EB-5 program.
Reserved Set-Aside Visa Quota
The RIA mandates the reservation of 32% of the annual EB-5 visa allocation as a reserved set-aside quota for investments in TEAs. Of this, 10% is reserved for high-unemployment TEA projects. This means that out of the 10,000 visas allocated to the EB-5 category annually, 1,000 are reserved for urban TEA investors.
Although priority processing is unavailable for high-unemployment investments, anecdotal evidence shows that urban TEA I-526E filings are still adjudicated faster than filings in the unreserved category, which can take years depending on your country of origin.
Familiar Investment Options
Historically, investors preferred urban investments because of larger market demand and project viability. While the RIA has led to a greater emphasis on rural investments, current USCIS data shows that urban TEA investments remain a popular choice among EB-5 investors.
Most investors, particularly those with low risk appetites, prefer to stick with the familiar—large urban real estate projects developed by major companies. While there are many safe and profitable rural investment options, for some investors, urban TEA projects provide a familiar choice for investors from low-demand countries.
Who Benefits the Most From Urban TEA Investments?
Although urban TEA projects do not receive priority processing, they’re an excellent fit for non-Chinese and non-Indian investors interested in urban areas. While high-unemployment TEA investors’ applications may take longer to process compared to those of rural investors, there are minimal risks of backlogs for investors from low-demand countries.
High-unemployment TEA projects may also be beneficial for investors who are already in the U.S. and are interested in projects located around their area of residence. That way, they can easily visit the site in their free time. For example, EB5AN’s ONE Tampa investors who reside in the Tampa Bay area and neighboring cities can visit the site to get a firsthand view of its development progress.
TEA Investments for Indian and Chinese Investors
Recent USCIS data shows that the high-unemployment TEA category may already be oversubscribed. According to this data, 3,435 I-526E petitions were filed under the high-unemployment TEA category between April 2022 and July 2024.
The data also shows that Chinese and Indian investors constitute the largest block of high-unemployment TEA investors.
With an average visa requirement of 2.5 visas per filing (one for the investor and 1.5 for any dependents), 8,500 visas are needed to meet the demand for urban EB-5 investments made between April 2022 and July 2024. However, as previously mentioned, only 1,000 visas (the 10% set-aside) are available for high-unemployment TEA investments per fiscal year. A demand of 8,500 visas therefore means USCIS may need 8.5 years of urban TEA allocations for existing investors alone.
With only 2,000 visas available for FYs 2024 and 2025 against a demand of 8,500 visas, the urban TEA category already faces a shortage of 6,500 visas, indicating a potential multi-year backlog. Therefore, high-unemployment TEA investments are not ideal for new Indian and Chinese investors, who may have to wait several years to get their Green Cards.
Despite all the above statistics, the high-unemployment category is still current in the Visa Bulletin for Chinese- and Indian-born investors. This is because USCIS does not calculate visa availability based on I-526E filings. It instead calculates visa availability based on the number of applicants who have gotten to the EB-5 visa allocation stage—the stage that involves consular processing and adjustment of status adjudication.
Because of this calculation method, new investors already in the U.S. on valid nonimmigrant visas can still apply to adjust their status. While these new investors might not receive their Green Cards for a long time, their status would still allow them to remain in the country and apply for employment authorization documentation and advance parole, permitting them to work and travel while awaiting adjudication.
That said, rural projects are usually the fastest option for Chinese and Indian investors who want to get their Green Cards as soon as possible.
EB5AN Offers USCIS-Approved Urban TEA Projects
Urban TEA investors enjoy reduced investment amounts and benefit from a reserved “set-aside” quota. These are just two of the reasons why investing in high-unemployment TEA projects is an excellent option for foreign investors from low-demand countries.
As with any other investment, you must conduct thorough due diligence before choosing an urban TEA project so as to avoid losing your investment and immigration status. EB5AN can help guide you through this process.
EB5AN has helped over 2,300 families become lawful U.S. permanent residents through the EB-5 program. We offer our clients first-rate, low-risk EB-5 TEA projects with a 100% USCIS approval rate to date.
For more information about our urban TEA projects and help in deciding which is best for you, book a free one-on-one consultation with our EB-5 experts today.
