EB-5 Q&A: Whether the EB-5 project can have employees work in a non-TEA

Question: Can the EB-5 project have employees work in a non-TEA?
Question Detail: I was wondering if my project would still quality as being in a TEA if my employees do most of their work in a non-TEA. For example, if I had a cleaning company with headquarters in a TEA, but with employees who worked mostly on cleaning buildings in non-TEAs, what problems could that cause? What do I need to know about EB-5 and TEA guidelines?

ANSWER:

Congress provided for a reduced investment amount ($500,000) in TEA in order to spur immigrants to invest in a new enterprise that are principle doing business in, and creating jobs in TEA. Therefore, the new enterprise must be principally doing business in TEA and the employment must be created in TEA. It should not matter if employees work in non-TEA as long as they are employed in TEA.