The GHIC was approved as an EB-5 Regional Center by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. Under the EB-5 Program the investors qualify for the lower investment threshold of $500,000.00 because the GHIC designated area qualifies as a Targeted Employment Area (TEA).
The GHIC is the only EB-5 Regional Center whose focus is on a spectrum of alternative construction sectors including:
The Greater Houston area is well-defined and important economic region. It should be noted for statistical reporting purposes that the ten-county GHIC region has been defined using the regional designation of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The GHIC region is also referred to in various publications as the “Houston – Sugar Land – Baytown” region, and encompasses ten counties. The OMB designation identifies nine distinct regions of Texas. The following depicts the nine distinct regions and their relative locations; the GHIC region is the southern region in yellow: Map 1 – The 9 Regions of Texas Counties & Relative Location of the GHIC Region
The GHIC is located along the Gulf Coast. The metropolitan area is also colloquially referred to as “Greater Houston” or the western edge of the “Golden Triangle”. The GHIC region represents the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the United States with a population of 5.8 million (U.S. Census, 2009, most recent estimate).