Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) The income and resources of an alien's
sponsor shall be deemed to be unearned income and resources of an alien applying for WFNJ for a period of
three years following the alien's entry into the United States. For purposes of deeming, a sponsor is an
individual who executed an affidavit of support, Form I-134, or similar agreement (except as noted in (j)
below) on behalf of an alien (who is not the child of the sponsor or the sponsor's spouse) as a condition of
the alien's entry into the United States.
1. No income or resources shall
be deemed from a sponsor who is (or whose spouse is) receiving WFNJ or SSI.
(b) An alien may also be sponsored by a public or private agency or
organization; however, alien sponsor deeming provisions are not applicable. In such situations, (b)1 below
applies.
1. Any alien who was sponsored by a public or private agency or
organization, and is not exempt from deeming provisions as described in (i) or (j) below, shall be ineligible
for public assistance for a period of three years following his or her entry into the United States unless
the county or municipal agency determines that the public or private agency or organization no longer exists
or has been declared bankrupt by a court of appropriate jurisdiction.
(c) For a period of three years following entry for permanent residence
into the United States, a sponsored alien who is not exempt from deeming, as described in (i) or (j) below,
shall provide the county or municipal agency with any information and documentation necessary to determine
the income and resources of the sponsor and the sponsor's spouse (if applicable and if living with the
sponsor) that can be deemed available to the alien, and obtain any cooperation necessary from the sponsor.
1. If the alien's circumstances change during the three-year period such
that the alien is no longer exempt from or subject to deeming in accordance with (i) or (j) below, the county
or municipal agency shall reflect the resulting change in unearned income in the assistance
payment.
2. A sponsored alien is ineligible in any month in which
adequate information concerning the income and resources of the sponsor (or sponsor's spouse if living with
the sponsor) is not provided.
3. Unsponsored family members may
remain eligible even if a sponsored alien fails to provide information concerning the sponsor (or sponsor's
spouse if living with the sponsor). However, any income the unsponsored family members actually receive from
the sponsor must be reported and considered in determining their eligibility.
(d) The amount of income of a sponsor which shall be deemed to be the
unearned income of an alien shall be determined as follows:
1. The
sponsor's total monthly wages, salaries, and net earnings from self-employment (and that of his or her spouse
if living with the sponsor) shall be reduced by 20 percent.
2.
The amount determined in (d)1 above shall be added to the unearned income of the sponsor (and that of his or
her spouse if living with the sponsor).
3. The amount determined
in (d)2 above shall be reduced by the following:
i. The appropriate amount
from Schedule VI at 10:90-3.18 (Schedule VI is also used for calculating lump sum
income) for the sponsor, spouse, and other persons residing in his or her household who are or could be
claimed by the sponsor as dependents for determination of Federal personal income tax liability and who are
not recipients of WFNJ;
ii. Any amounts actually paid by the
sponsor or sponsor's spouse to people not living in the household who are or could be claimed by them as
dependents to determine their Federal personal income tax liability; and
iii. Actual payments of spousal support or child support with respect to
individuals not in the household.
4. The remaining
amount shall be deemed to the alien and shall be counted as unearned income in the determination of
eligibility and cash assistance benefit.
(e) The
amount of resources of the sponsor (and of the sponsor's spouse if living with the sponsor) shall be
determined in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter. The value of the sponsor's resources shall
be reduced by $ 2,000 and remaining amount shall be deemed available to the alien and counted in the
determination of WFNJ eligibility and benefit payment level.
(f)
In any case where a person is the sponsor of two or more aliens, the income and resources of the sponsor (and
the sponsor's spouse if living with the sponsor), to the extent the income and resources would be deemed to
any one of the aliens under the provisions of this section, shall be equally divided among the sponsored
aliens.
(g) Income and resources which are deemed to a sponsored
alien shall not be considered in determining the need of other unsponsored members of the alien's family
except to the extent the income and resources are actually available. The sponsor's obligatory contribution
shall not exceed the per capita share of the eligible unit's adjusted allowance for the alien(s) for whom the
sponsor is liable.
(h) Any individual sponsor of an alien, and
the alien, shall be jointly and severally liable for any overpayment of public assistance made to the alien
during the three years after the alien's entry into the United States that was caused by the sponsor's
failure to provide correct information under the provisions of this section, except as provided in (h)1
below.
1. When a sponsor is found to have good cause or to be without fault
for not providing information to the county or municipal agency, the sponsor will not be held liable for the
overpayment and recovery will not be made from this sponsor.
2.
An overpayment for which the alien or the sponsor and the alien are liable as described above shall be repaid
to the county or municipal agency or recovered in accordance with the provisions of
10:90-3.21. If the county or municipal agency is unable to
recover the overpayment through this method, the overpayment shall be withheld from future payments to which
the alien or the alien and the individual sponsor are entitled under:
i.
Any State administered or supervised program established by the Social Security Act; or
ii. Any cash benefit program administered by the Social Security
Administration and established by the Social Security Act.
(i) These deeming provisions do not apply to any alien who is:
1. Admitted as a conditional entrant refugee to the United States as a
result of the application of the provision of Section 203(a)(7) (in effect prior to April 1, 1980) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act;
2. Admitted as a refugee to the
United States as a result of the application of the provisions of Section 207(c) (in effect after March 31,
1980) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (
8 U.S.C. §§
1101 et seq.);
3. Paroled into
the United States as a refugee under Section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act;
4. Granted political asylum by the Attorney General under Section 208 of
the Immigration and Nationality Act;
5. A Cuban or Haitian
entrant as defined in Section 501(e) of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 ( Public Law 96-422
);
6. The dependent child of the sponsor or sponsor's spouse;
or,
7. An Amerasian admitted under Section 584 of the Foreign
Operation Appropriations Act beginning March 20, 1988.
(j) The enforceable "Affidavit of Support", Form I-864, is required for
family based immigrants, who apply for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status on or after December 19,
1997. The I-864 form is also required in employment-based cases where a relative of the immigrant filed the
employment based immigrant petition or has a significant ownership interest in the entity that filed the
petition.
1. The enforceable affidavit is a contract between the sponsor
and the U.S. Government that requires the sponsor to maintain the immigrant at 125 percent of the Federal
Poverty Level until the sponsor dies, the immigrant becomes a citizen, or the immigrant obtains credit for 40
qualifying quarters of work and becomes an otherwise eligible alien.
