Section 8210 - Designation and Certification of Qualified Teas(a) An individual or entity may establish that the location in which the new commercial enterprise is going to principally do business in, is a TEA, by submitting evidence to USCIS that the metropolitan statistical area, the specific county within a metropolitan statistical area, or the county in which a city or town with a population of 20,000 or more is located, had an average unemployment rate of at least 150% of the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' most recently published national average unemployment rate before the date of the application.(b) Alternatively, an individual or entity can establish that the location, in which the new commercial enterprise is going to principally do business in, is a TEA, by obtaining a TEA certification letter.(c) If an individual or entity seeks to receive a TEA certification letter from GO-Biz, the applicant must use the GO-Biz TEA Interactive Tool located on GO-Biz's EB-5 Program website to determine whether the project is located in a designated TEA and therefore qualified to receive a TEA certification letter from GO-Biz.(d) The GO-Biz TEA Interactive Tool will require that an applicant provide: (1) The name of the investor or entity entering the information;(2) The name of the new business or project;(3) The project's address, including street, city, state, and zip code; and,(4) The email address of the person to whom the TEA certification letter will be emailed.(e) After entering in the required information regarding the project, an applicant must select "Go To Address." This will take the applicant to a census tract map with the currently applicable unemployment figures for the census tract where the project is located and the surrounding area.(f) If the GO-Biz TEA Interactive Tool identifies the census tract in which the project is located as a designated high unemployment census tract, then the applicant shall follow the GO-Biz TEA Interactive Tool to request a TEA certification letter from GO-Biz by selecting "Generate Submission." This will send GO-Biz a request with the map indicating that the project is located in a TEA. If the project does qualify for a TEA certification letter, it is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that all the information requested by the GO-Biz TEA Interactive Tool is provided in order for GO-Biz to issue a TEA certification letter to the applicant.(g) If the GO-Biz TEA Interactive Tool does not indicate that the address qualifies for a TEA, then the applicant can select the "Request Special TEA" button.(h) After the "Request Special TEA" button is selected, the applicant can select up to 11 additional contiguous census tracts to form the Special TEA area to achieve an average unemployment rate greater than 150% of the national average rate in order to select the "Request Special TEA."(i) The applicant must then select the "TEA Support Contact List" button to obtain the TEA support contact for the county where the project will be located and select the "TEA Support Letter" button in order to obtain the template for the supporting letter that will need to be filled out by the applicable city, county, or regional or local economic development organization. Once completed, applicant must follow the directions on the TEA Interactive Tool for submission of the supporting letter to GO-Biz.(j) The supporting letter must be filled out by the applicable city, county, or regional or local economic development organization and indicate that the entity concurs that the proposed census tract(s) will reasonably be a source of workforce for the project.(k) After GO-Biz receives the required supporting letter, GO-Biz will process and send the TEA certification letter to the applicant via the email address provided.(l) All State of California TEA certification letters are valid for one year from the date issued.(m) If the project is not a TEA or Special TEA, then the project does not qualify for certification from the state. However, the applicant can still apply to USCIS without the state certification and provide evidence of its own, showing that the new commercial enterprise is in a high unemployment area.(n) This section shall be construed so as to not conflict with, and be applied consistent with, federal law.Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 10, § 8210
1. New section filed 2-28-2017; operative 2-28-2017 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2017, No. 9). Note: Authority cited: Section 6315.1, Government Code. Reference: Section 6315.1(b), Government Code.
1. New section filed 2-28-2017; operative 2/28/2017 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2017, No. 9).