Targeted Employment Area (TEA)
A Targeted Employment Area is defined by law as “a rural area or an area that has experienced high unemployment of at least 150 percent of the national average.”
'Rural Area' - means any area not within either a metropolitan statistical area (as designated by the Office of Management and Budget) or the outer boundary of any city or town having a population of 20,000 or more.
A Targeted Employment Area (TEA) for EB-5 Visa purpose allows $500,000 USD investment rather than the regular $1 Million USD.
The USCIS Regional Center designation allows the requisite job-creation to be indirect and induced, as well as direct.
When you have a Targeted Employment Area within a Regional Center you get a EB-5 project that requires $500,000 USD and allows job-creation to take place through directly and indirectly, but sometimes all indirectly.