What is a TEA and what determines the difference between the EB-5 investment amounts?

A Targeted Employment Area (TEA) is an area consisting of a census tract(s) that are directly adjacent to the census tract(s) in which the New Commercial Enterprise (NCE) is principally doing business, identified as having an unemployment rate at or above 150% of the national average.  A TEA may also consist of a rural area not within a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), or a city or town having a population of 20,000 or more outside of a MSA. The amount of capital necessary to make a qualifying investment in the United States, as required by the EB-5 program, is $1.8 million United States dollars ($1,800,000). The amount is reduced to $900,000 United States dollars if the investment is made into a NCE located in a TEA, which must be backed by substantial and verifiable data to show it is in fact at or above 150% of the national average unemployment rate, that the region qualifies as a rural area, or that it is in a city or town having a population of 20,000 or more outside of a MSA.