EB-5 targeted employment area certifications are critical to regional centers and EB-5 project investors.

EB-5 investors want to invest their capital into targeted employment area certified projects for the reduced investment amount of $500,000. Non-TEA EB-5 projects require a minimum investment amount of $1,000,000.

Targeted employment areas are defined as rural areas or high unemployment areas (areas having unemployment more than 150% the national average unemployment rate).Although targeted employment areas are regulated nationally by USCIS, the states administer the process of certification, which makes process of approval vastly different from state to state.New York, fortunately is one of the simplest processes for targeted employment area certifications. The New York Department of Labor only requires that the exact location of the project be provided and reviews each location on a case-by-case basis. Unlike other states, New York does not require a targeted employment area analysis or letters of support from the local government in the area in which the project is to be developed.Instead, the New York Department of Labor analyzes the site location to determine qualification. They look at subarea unemployment data at the census tract level and census block group level and do not have any restrictions on the resulting shape of the targeted employment area.Up until a few years ago, New York used to be one of only a few states still using 2000 census data to calculate unemployment rates using the census-share methodology. However, like most states they have switched over to using more recent data from the American Community Survey. This switch has resulted in significant unemployment rate changes at the census tract level.