Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) A documented
alien is an individual with "documentation," supplied by the United States
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which supports the alien being in
the United States. An undocumented alien is an individual who has no
"documentation," supplied by USCIS to indicate his or her alien
status.
(b) Immigrants shall meet
the following two requirements to be eligible for NJ SNAP benefits in addition
to other program requirements:
1. Be in a
qualified alien category; and
2.
Meet a condition that allows qualified aliens to get NJ SNAP
benefits.
(c) A
qualified alien in the context of NJ SNAP benefit eligibility is defined as an
individual who falls into one of the categories required for qualified alien
status (see (d) and (e) below).
(d)
The following qualified aliens shall be eligible for participation in the NJ
SNAP program, with the provision that all other eligibility requirements are
met. If any of the qualified aliens listed at (d)1 through 5 below change their
alien status to a qualified alien listed at (e) below, they would retain their
exempt status and would not have to meet one of the special qualifying
conditions at (f) below. The date of entry would remain at the original date of
entry and not the date of the change of status.
1. An asylee, granted under Section 208 of
the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA),
P.L.
101-649,
8
U.S.C. §§
1101 et seq.
2. A refugee admitted under
8
U.S.C. §
1157. The Trafficking Victims
Protection Act of 2000 requires trafficking victims to be treated as
refugees;
3. A deportee whose
deportation is withheld under
8 U.S.C. §§
1253(h) or
1251(b)3;
4. A Cuban or Haitian Entrant as defined in 8
U.S.C. § 11522, the Alien Refugee Education Assistant Act of 1980;
and
5. An Amerasian Immigrant under
8
U.S.C. §
1101 et seq., the Foreign
Operations, Export Financing and Related Program Appropriations Act.
(e) The following list of
qualified aliens shall be required to meet one of the special criterion listed
in (f) below to be eligible for participation in the NJ SNAP program:
1. A battered spouse, battered child, parent
or child of a battered person with a petition pending under
8 U.S.C. §
1154(a)(1)(B)(ii) or (iii),
or 8 U.S.C. § 1254(a)3 providing that the individual responsible for the
battery or cruelty is not residing in the same household as the individual
subjected to the battery or cruelty;
2. A lawfully admitted alien for permanent
residence (I-551 form) (holders of green cards);
3. A paroled alien under
8 U.S.C. §
1182(d)(5) for at least one
year; and
4. An alien granted
conditional entry under
8 U.S.C. §
1153(a)7.
(f) The four qualified aliens
listed under (e) above shall meet one of the special criteria listed below in
order to be eligible to participate in the NJ SNAP program.
1. He or she is a lawfully admitted for
permanent residence (LPR), who can be credited with 40 quarters of work (which
is allowed to include the sum of LPR, plus parent and spouse);
2. He or she is a member of the military or
has a military connection (veteran, active duty, spouse and
children);
3. He or she is lawfully
in the U.S., regardless of date of entry and under 18 years of age;
4. He or she is lawfully in the U.S.,
regardless of date of entry and receiving disability benefits;
5. He or she is lawfully in the U.S. on
August 22, 1996 and 65 years of age or older on August 22, 1996; or
6. He or she is lawfully in the U.S. as a
qualified alien, for at least five years.
(g) The following procedures regarding
eligible aliens are to be followed:
1. To
obtain history of immigrant status, ask client for his or her USCIS form
G845-Supplement;
2. In order to be
eligible for the NJ SNAP program, qualified aliens who are not immediately
eligible, pursuant to (e)1 through 4 above, shall be required to meet special
criteria listed under (f) above;
3.
Persons are considered disabled for NJ SNAP purposes if they are receiving or
certified to receive SSI, interim assistance pending SSI, Social Security
disability, Federal or State disability retirement benefits for a permanent
disability, veteran's disability benefits, or railroad retirement disability.
In addition, persons receiving disability-related Medicaid, State or Federal
supplemental assistance, and disability-related State General Assistance
benefits may be considered disabled for NJ SNAP purposes if they are determined
disabled using Federal SSI criteria. State General Assistance or medical
programs that use a medical practitioner's statement in order to determine that
an immigrant meets the SSI disability criteria shall meet the disability
criteria under the NJ SNAP program.
4. For both six-month reporting and change
reporting cases, if the CWA is aware of an alien child turning 18 years old
during the certification period at the time the household is last recertified,
the CWA shall act on the change according to
10:87-9.5. The CWA shall determine
if the child remains eligible based on other NJ SNAP criterion as found at
10:87-3.8(f). If
the household is on change reporting, the household is required to report the
change within 10 days.
(h) The following aliens are eligible to
participate in the NJ SNAP program, even if they are not qualified aliens, and
are eligible for an indefinite period of time.
1. Certain Hmong or Highland Laotians (spouse
and children); and
2. American
Indians born in Canada to which Section 289 of INA (
8 U.S.C. §
1359) applies, and members of an Indian
tribe as defined in Section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education
Assistance Act (cross-border Indians) (
25
U.S.C. §
450b(e)
).
