(1) General
Requirements. In addition to US Citizens, certain aliens who are otherwise
eligible are eligible to receive Families First benefits. The alien status of
each individual in the AG listed on the application as an alien is to be
determined prior to certification/approval. INS documents presented or secured
by the applicant/recipient shall be the primary source of verification of alien
status. The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system must
be used to validate the alien's documents and status.
(2) Description Of Eligible Aliens.
(a) Citizens and eligible aliens. The
Department shall prohibit participation in the program by any person who is not
a resident of the United States and one of the following:
1. A United States citizen; or
2. An alien that, under federal laws and
regulations, is permitted to receive Families First benefits funded by federal
TANF dollars. These eligible aliens may include, but are not necessarily
limited to, certain individuals lawfully present in the United States as a
result of the application of the Immigration and Nationality Act and the
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
(3) Aliens who apply for Families First for
the first time must have the income and resources of their sponsor considered
in determining their eligibility for assistance. The income and resources of
the sponsor shall be considered for a period of three years after the alien's
entry into the United States. A sponsor is a person who signed an affidavit or
other statement accepted by INS as an agreement to support an alien as a
condition of the alien's admission for permanent residence in the United
States. The alien is responsible for obtaining the cooperation of his/her
sponsor and for providing the information necessary to determine the alien's
eligibility. This will include material provided in support of the alien's
immigration application. Failure to obtain the sponsor's cooperation or to
supply the information will result in denial/closure of the application/case.
Aliens who are exempted from this provision are aliens who were: paroled into
the United States as refugee; granted political asylum by the Attorney General;
admitted as Cuban or Haitian entrants; admitted under Section 203(a)(7) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act prior to April 1, 1980; admitted under Section
207(c) of the Act after March 31, 1980; alien children of sponsors or of
sponsor's spouse; or recipients of AFDC prior to October 1, 1981 or a former
AFDC or Families First recipient who reapplies in the future. Any alien under
the sponsorship of a public or private agency/organization is not eligible to
receive Families First within three years of entry into the Country unless it
is proven (and documented) that the agency is unable to meet their sponsorship
obligations to the alien. (This may mean that the agency is no longer in
existence.) The alien is required to submit documentary evidence as is
available to facilitate this determination. Exception: An alien granted
permanent resident status through the legalization process is ineligible for a
five year period beginning with the date on which she/he was granted temporary
resident status.
(a) Establishing Income and
Resource Amounts. The following steps are necessary in establishing the amount
of income and resources which shall be deemed from the sponsor to the alien,
whether or not these are actually available to the alien.
1. Income
(i) Determine the gross earned and unearned
income of the sponsor and the sponsor's spouse (the latter's income will be
considered even if the marriage occurred after the affidavit of support was
executed). If the sponsor and/or spouse receive Families First or SSI, no
income is to be considered available to the alien.
(ii) Deduct from the gross earned income
(wages, salaries or net earnings from self employment) 20% of the total of such
amounts or $175.00, whichever is less.
(iii) Deduct the standard of need for the
number of individuals living with the sponsor who are claimed by the sponsor
and/or the sponsor's spouse as dependents for federal personal income tax
liability.
(iv) Deduct the amount
the sponsor and/or his/her spouse pays to individuals outside the home who are
claimed as dependents for federal income tax purposes.
(v) Deduct any amount paid by the sponsor
and/or his/her spouse for child support or alimony to individuals living
outside the home.
(vi) The
remaining income shall be considered as unearned income to the alien and shall
be added to the alien's own income in determining eligibility for
assistance.
(vii) Follow Families
First budgeting procedures beginning with the Gross Income Standard
test.
2. Resources. The
provision of considering the income and resources of the sponsor as available
to the alien is not waived even though the sponsor may have revoked his/her
sponsorship agreement. In those situations where the sponsor has absconded and
his/her whereabouts is unknown, the alien(s) would not be eligible for
assistance for the period of time for which the sponsor is liable for support,
as need could not be established. Income and resources which are deemed to a
sponsored alien shall not be considered available to unsponsored members of the
alien's family except to the extent the income and resources are actually
available. Unsponsored members are not ineligible simply because a sponsored
member fails to provide information regarding his/her sponsor. The following
are steps to be taken in determining the amount of resources to be deemed from
the sponsor to the alien:
(i) Determine the
amount of countable resources of the sponsor and the sponsor's spouse as though
the sponsor was applying for Families First.
(ii) Deduct $1500.00 from the total countable
resources.
(iii) The balance of the
resources shall be considered available to the alien and added to the alien's
own countable resources in determining eligibility.
(b) Multiple Sponsorship. When it
is determined that an individual has agreed to sponsor multiple families, the
amount to be deemed to the eligible families shall be divided equally among the
families who are applying for assistance. If only one family applies for
Families First, then the total amount of the sponsor's liability (income and
resources) shall be applied to the family so applying.
(c) Liability for overpayments. Both the
sponsor of the alien and the alien shall be jointly and severally liable for
any overpayment made to such alien during the three year period following the
alien's entry into the United States, if such overpayment was due to the
sponsor's failure to provide correct information except where it can be
established that the sponsor was without fault or where good cause for failure
to provide such information can be established. The same procedure for handling
overpayments shall be applicable to aliens as for any other Families First
recipient.
(d) Establishing Good
Cause. Good cause for failure of the sponsor to provide correct information to
the Department includes the following:
1. The
Department fails to request information regarding the sponsor's income and
resources.
2. The sponsor has had
no direct contact with the Department concerning his/her income and resources
and he/she is unaware of the information provided by the sponsored
alien.
3. Social and/or language
barriers preclude the sponsor's understanding and ability to provide the
correct information.
4. Other
unusual circumstances exist which indicate the failure to provide correct
information is beyond the sponsor's control.
