Impact of policy proposal to reform Targeted
Employment Areas; Economically Highly
Distressed Areas
Source: Investment In The USA Website
A
s executive director of Invest In the USA (IIUSA), the
national trade association for the EB-5 Regional Center
Program, I have had the honor of leading the industry
in government and public affairs through a period of
exponential growth since the financial crisis of 2008. Since
2008, demand for EB-5 visas grew over 1,200 percent with
over 40,000 immigrant investors contributing well over $20
billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the United
States to create jobs.
IIUSA’s experience in balancing
economic development, financial
and immigration interests has
reinforced a fundamental truth:
capital markets (including EB-5)
must be well informed to function
properly and succeed in creating
economic opportunity for people.
That is why education of the EB-5
industry and the public are part of
IIUSA’s core responsibilities. We
want all program stakeholders to succeed because EB-5
is a rare example of where everyone involved can achieve
their respective goals in ways that has real public benefit.
introduced by congress and/or considered by industry
stakeholders. Most recently, the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) proposed new EB-5 regulations that include
a TEA reform. With so many different proposals, IIUSA took
it upon itself to move the TEA debate out of the abstract
and into the practical realities.
Not only did we publish the first of its kind national report
to compare how different proposals would impact the EB-5
industry that will be updated periodically, we also published
interactive maps online that bring
the implications to life for all to see
at www.iiusa.org/tea-maps.
"We believe in EB-5 as
a tool for community
and economic
development
globally."
Recently, IIUSA has focused its education and analytical
efforts to reform of Targeted Employment Areas (TEA),
which has long been the EB-5 policy issue with the most
diversity of opinion within the industry.
Over the years, various reform proposals have been
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EB5 INVESTORS M AGAZINE
The repor t compares seven
proposals with variations of
New Market Tax Credit (NMTC)
and Economically Distressed
Area (EDA) criteria for certain
geographies (which has been
proposed in legislation and by
industry stakeholders in some form) and “Contiguous
and Adjacent” criteria (which was proposed by DHS for
regulatory reform).
The report is available for anyone to download on IIUSA.
org and uses the most recent 5-year American Community
Survey (ACS) data to analyze more than 600 EB-5 project
samples to generate a comprehensive look at the impact
the different policy proposals would have on the EB-5