Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024
A. HSD provides a reasonable opportunity
period to individuals who have made a declaration of citizenship or
satisfactory immigration status in accordance with
42 CFR
435.406, and for whom the HSD is unable to
verify citizenship or satisfactory immigration status. During the reasonable
opportunity period, the HSD continues efforts to complete verification of the
individual's citizenship or satisfactory immigration status, or request
documentation if necessary. The HSD provides notice of such opportunity that is
accessible to persons who have limited English proficiency and individuals with
disabilities, consistent with
42 CFR
435.905(b). During such
reasonable opportunity period, the HSD must, if relevant to verification of the
individual's citizenship or satisfactory immigration status:
(1) in the case of individuals declaring
citizenship who do not have an SSN at the time of such declaration, assist the
individual in obtaining an SSN in accordance with
42 CFR
435.910 and Paragraph (2) of Subsection A of
8.200.410.10 NMAC, and attempt to
verify the individual's citizenship once an SSN has been obtained and
verified;
(2) provide the
individual with information on how to contact the electronic data source so
that they can attempt to resolve any inconsistencies defeating electronic
verification directly with such source, and pursue verification of the
individual's citizenship or satisfactory immigration status if the individual
or source informs the HSD that the inconsistencies have been resolved;
and
(3) provide the individual with
an opportunity to provide other documentation of citizenship or satisfactory
immigration status, in accordance with section 1137(d) of the Act and
42 CFR
435.406 or
435.407 and
8.200.410.12
NMAC.
B. The reasonable
opportunity period:
(1) begins on the date on
which the notice is received by the individual. The date on which the notice is
received is considered to be five days after the date on the notice, unless the
individual shows that they did not receive the notice within the five-day
period; and
(2) ends on the earlier
of the date the HSD verifies the individual's citizenship or satisfactory
immigration status or determines that the individual did not verify his or her
citizenship or satisfactory immigration status or 90 days except
that;
(3) HSD extends the
reasonable opportunity period beyond 90 days, allowing for up to three 10 day
extensions, for individuals declaring to be in a satisfactory immigration
status if the HSD determines that the individual is making a good faith effort
to obtain any necessary documentation or the agency needs more time to verify
the individual's status through other available electronic data sources or to
assist the individual in obtaining documents needed to verify his or her
status.
(4) if, by the end of the
reasonable opportunity period, the individual's citizenship or satisfactory
immigration status has not been verified the HSD will take action within 30
days to terminate eligibility.
