Updated List of Certified Target Areas for Alien Investment
The New Jersey Department of Labor has issued the 1999 list of certified areas of high unemployment in the state for purposes of targeting alien entrepreneurial investment under the provisions of the federal Immigration Act (IMMACT) of 1990. IMMACT 1990 made substantial changes to the categories or preferences under which aliens can immigrate to the United States for purposes of employment. There was one change from the list released in April 1998: the city of New Brunswick no longer qualifies.
One of the categories established by IMMACT 1990 provides that up to 10,000 visas will be made available each fiscal year to qualified immigrants (along with their spouses and unmarried minor children) seeking to enter the United States for the purpose of engaging in a new commercial enterprise.
This new enterprise may take any lawful business form and must benefit both the United States economy and create full-time employment for not fewer than ten citizens, lawful permanent residents or other immigrants lawfully authorized to be employed.
In general, IMMACT 1990 established a threshold investment of 1,000,000. To encourage new enterprises in areas which would most benefit from "employment creation visas," 3000 of these visas are reserved for qualified aliens who would invest in "targeted employment area". In such areas, the minimum investment is $500,000.
In New Jersey, "targeted employment areas" include any county or municipality with 20,000 or more population that had an unemployment rate 150 percent or higher of the US rate in the latest calendar year (the rate had to be 6.8% or more in 1998).
Based on 1998 data, the counties of Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Hudson qualify in their entirety. In addition, the following designated areas also qualify to be certified: cities of Camden, East Orange, Elizabeth, Newark, Passaic, Paterson, Perth Amboy, Plainfield and Trenton.
An alien seeking to classify as an entrepreneur must petition by filing FormI-536 (Immigration Petition by Alien Entrepreneur), which can be obtained by writing to the US Immigration and Naturalization Services, 970 Broad Street, Federal Building, Newark, NJ 07102 or by calling (800) 755-0777 or (973) 645-4400.
An alien entrepreneur seeking to do business in areas of high unemployment must, along with the petition, include a letter which certifies that the commercial enterprise is or will be located in a "targeted employment area" with a population of at least 20,000. This letter may be obtained by writing to the Local Area Unemployment Statistics Unit, New Jersey Department of Labor, Division of Labor Market and Demographic Research, P.O. Box 383, Trenton NJ 08625-0383 or by calling (609) 292-2568.
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