TEA SNEAK PEEK for Census Tract Unemployment Rate: What you want to know for EB-5 Project TEA Certification – looking ahead
For the third year in a row, we are providing the EB-5 TEA Sneak Peek Map to help our clients that want to know how the upcoming annual data change might affect their project. This year, as always, EB-5 teams have the same question – so we updated the Sneak Peek map for this year.
Before we get further, if you don’t want to get into the details, let us review your location for you to see to see if it will still qualify – no charge. Click above or e-mail [email protected].
Once the Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”) releases its finalized data for the calendar year 2018, most states will begin the annual process of updating the data that they use to determine the TEA eligibility of your projects. BLS typically releases this final data in mid-April so the states’ revision processes typically take place in April and May.
If your EB-5 team plans to continue having immigrant investors file petitions after April/May of this year, you will want to make sure that your project location will still qualify as a TEA.
New Unemployment Rate Thresholds
The national unemployment rate for 2018 was 3.9%. The new threshold for determining high unemployment TEAs is 150% of the 2018 rate, which is 5.9%.
Watch our video to see the best ways to use the Sneak Peek map for 2018
And check out the map for yourself:
About the Map’s Data
The census tract unemployment rates shown in our Sneak Peek map are based on a combination of finalized and preliminary data for calendar year 2018. While we don’t anticipate much fluctuation between these preliminary rates and the final rates, these calculations are meant to approximate what the census tract rates are likely to be once the data is finalized by the BLS.
The information presented in the Sneak Peek map is intended to approximate the data that most states will be using for TEA designations beginning in April/May of 2019. It is based on census-share methodology utilizing finalized 2013-2017 data from the American Community Survey and the county-level data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that is available for 2018 (January – December 2018*).
* January through November 2018 is finalized and December 2018 is preliminary.
The Sneak Peek map is based on the current TEA rules under the current EB-5 program and is not intended to be a prediction of any legislative or regulatory changes.
