Qualified noncitizen is a federal term referring to a pool of noncitizens who may be eligible for assistance. Specific program requirements vary, so not all qualified noncitizens meet alien status for all programs. The qualified noncitizens are:

A	Amerasians; A person admitted as an Amerasian under section 584(a) of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act (FOEFRPAA) of 1988.
W	Deportation being withheld; A person whose deportation is being withheld under section 243(h) of the INA.
A	Asylees; A person granted political asylum under section 208 of the INA.
R	Refugees; A refugee admitted under section 207 of the INA. (A person who is a victim of a severe form of trafficking is to be treated as a refugee under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2002.)
E	Cuban/Haitian entrants; A Cuban/Haitian who is either a public interest or humanitarian parolee.
B	Battered spouse and children; A noncitizen who has been battered or subjected to extreme cruelty in the U.S. by a spouse or parent of the noncitizen, or by a member of the spouse or parent's family residing in the same household as the noncitizen, if the spouse or parent consents to such battery or cruelty.
L	Lawful permanent resident.
P	Parolees under 212(d)(5), admitted for at least one year.

Noncitizens in the AWARE group meet the alien status requirement for SNAP. Noncitizens in the BLP group must meet another criteria to qualify for SNAP. To meet the SNAP alien status requirement, a person in the BLP group must meet one of the following requirements:

• Have been a qualified noncitizen for five or more years.

• Meet the SNAP definition of disabled.

• Be under age 18.

• Be an LPR who has worked or can be credited with 40 quarters of work.

• Be a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces, honorably discharged (not on account of alien status) who fulfills minimum active-duty service requirement; a veteran who enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces on or after 9/7/80 must serve a minimum of two years of active duty. There is no minimum service for those who enlisted before 9/7/80.

• Be on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces.

• Is the spouse or dependent child of an individual in the veteran or active duty categories above.

  F	REFER TO WG-NC-1 FOR A CHART SUMMARIZING ALIEN STATUS ELIGIBILITY AND A KEY TO THEIR IMMIGRATION DOCUMENTS.

The following people meet alien status requirement even though they are not qualified noncitizens:

Status or Circumstance	Eligible if Meets One of These:
American Indians Born in Canada	Native Americans who are entitled to cross the U.S. border into Canada or Mexico, including tribal members from St. Regis Band of the Mohawk in N.Y. State, the Micmac in Maine, the Abanaki in Vermont and the Kickapoo in Texas.
Hmong and Highland Laotians	Regardless of their date of entry, so long as they were a member, the spouse or dependent child of the member, of the tribe that took part in a military or rescue operation during the Vietnam War era, beginning August 5, 1964, and ending May 7, 1975.

Alien Status; Not REF or REFM: 461-120-0125

Note:

Unqualified ineligible noncitizens are referred to as NC1: qualified ineligible noncitizens are referred to as NC2.

Note:

For filing groups containing migrant or seasonal farmworkers, for information on budgeting and other special circumstances, see section I in the SNAP chapter.

The income of households with noncitizens is calculated differently based on their alien status. For noncitizens who are not qualified, e.g., foreign students, tourists, or people who are undocumented or who overstayed their visa, a certain share of income they contribute to the filing group is not included in the benefit calculation. The income is prorated, in order to exclude the noncitizen member's share. This calculation also applies to households with members who are unable or unwilling to provide the documentation about their immigration status and households with noncitizen members who are victims of domestic violence. This category of noncitizens is identified as NC1.

Example:

In a five-person filing group, there are two NC1s. One of them earns $2,500 per month. The system divides the $2,500 by the number of persons in the financial group. $2,500 divided by 5 persons = $500 share per person. There are two NC1s, so their share is $500 X 2 = $1,000. The system then counts only the eligible members' share, so $2,500 - $1,000 (for the noncitizens) = $1,500 countable income.

Note:

The 185 percent FPL test is done on total gross income before the NC1 proration.

Noncitizens who are qualified yet ineligible solely because of the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996, will have their income calculated differently. Examples of these noncitizens include Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR) who do not have 40 qualifying quarters of work or have not been residing in the U.S. for more than five years and Public Interest Parolees whose immigration status has been granted for less than five years. These noncitizens are identified as NC2s. For them, there is a two-step process in calculating the benefits for their households if they have income.

Step One:

1. Include the NC2 in the benefit group as if the person were eligible, i.e., code the person with an AD or HH, whichever is appropriate.

2. Count all the income of the NC2 as well as the income of other household members whose income must be counted.

3. Allow deductions for the expenses paid by the household, including the expenses paid by the NC2.

4. Let the system do the calculation but do not update. Narrate the amount.

Step Two:

1. Exclude the NC2 from the benefit group, i.e., code the person with an IA or IH, whichever is appropriate.

2. Remove the income of the NC2.

3. Count all the income of the eligible members.

4. Count any income given directly by the NC2 to the eligible members in the household.

5. Allow only the deductions paid by the eligible members.

6. Let the system do the calculation. Compare the amount with Step One. If it is less, use this action to issue benefits to the household. If it is more, go back to Step One and issue benefits.

Note:

As a shortcut to run these two calculations you may use the interactive NC2 Two-Step Calculation (DHS 221F) on the forms server or the Noncitizen SNAP Benefit Calculator at https://apps.state.or.us/cf1/nc_calc/.

The above calculation applies only to households with at least one other member who is either a U.S. citizen or who meets the alien status requirement for SNAP. For households with members of different alien statuses, e.g., father is ineligible due to his undocumented status and mother is a qualified yet ineligible noncitizen due to the duration of residence in the U.S. or insufficient work quarters, the father's income is prorated while the mother's income is calculated using the two-step process, as illustrated below.

Step One:

1. Include the NC2 in the benefit group as if the person were eligible, i.e., code the person with an AD or HH, whichever is appropriate.

2. Code the NC1 with an IA or IH, whichever is appropriate.

3. Prorate the income of the NC1 according to the number of ineligible (qualified and unqualified) members in the household. Add the income to the NC2s income and code the income according to its type.

4. Allow the deductions paid by the eligible household members, including expenses paid by the NC2 and the prorated share of the NC1s costs, except their share of the utility allowance. If the NC1 pays for heating/cooling costs, the household is eligible for the FUA. Allow the LUA if the NC1 pays for utilities other than heating/cooling.

5. Let the system do the calculation but do not update. Narrate the amount.

Step Two:

1. Code the NC1 and the NC2 with an IA or IH, whichever is appropriate.

2. Remove the income of the NC2.

3. Code the countable income of the NC1 (do not prorate).

4. Count any income given directly to the household by the NC2.

5. Prorate the deductions (other than the utility allowance) for the NC1 according to the number of ineligible (qualified and unqualified) members in the household. If the NC1 pays for heating/cooling costs, the household is eligible for the FUA. Allow the LUA if the NC1 pays for utilities other than heating/cooling.

6. Do not allow deductions for expenses paid by the NC2.

7. Let the system do the calculation. Compare the amount with Step One. If it is less, use this action to issue benefits to the household. If it is more, go back to Step One and issue benefits.

Note:

When one NC2 member in the household has income, include all the NC2 members in the benefit group as if they were eligible. Code them with an AD or HH as appropriate in the Step One calculation. Remove them, (i.e., code them with an IH or IA) in the Step Two calculation.

Exception: Prorate the TANF grant for all ineligible noncitizens (NC1 and NC2) regardless if they are in the TANF benefit group. The TANF grant is considered the entire family's income. If there is a TANF overpayment, all adults are liable. Since the computer system does not perform the necessary proration when the income is coded "GNT", the amount must be hand prorated. Workers also need to code the MNL household type, so that the automatic grant update run at the end of the month does not restore the GNT to the full amount.

Example 1:

In a four-person filing group, the parents are ineligible noncitizens for SNAP. However, the parents are included in the benefit group for TANF. They receive $617 (TANF grant and COI payment) each month. The worker will divide the total amount by 4 for each person in the financial group. The amount is then multiplied by the number of eligible people in the group. The countable income to be coded GNT on FSMIS = $309 ($617 ÷ 4 x 2).

Example 2:

In a four-person filing group, the parents are ineligible noncitizens for both SNAP and TANF. They receive $320 (TANF and COI), on behalf of their two eligible children in a household of four. The worker will divide the total amount by 4 for each person in the SNAP filing group. The amount is then multiplied by the number of people in the need group. The countable income to be coded GNT on FSMIS = $160 ($320 ÷ 4 x 2).

Note:

Remember to code MNL in the household type field.

Use of Income and Income Deductions When There Are Ineligible or Disqualified Group Members; SNAP: 461-160-0410

Certain incomes received by households with ineligible noncitizens will not be prorated because they are designated for the eligible people in the household. Income such as SSI and child support will not be prorated if the income is designated for the household member who meets the alien status requirement. This is true even if an ineligible noncitizen (e.g., a parent) is the payee for these payments. Code the income on the eligible person it is designated for.

See the NC1/NC2 Calculation Cheat Sheet for a summary of these steps.

When the noncitizen is an unqualified ineligible noncitizen, their deductions, other than the deduction for the utility allowance, are prorated. Utility allowances are always given in full, but other deductions should be prorated when the costs are either paid in full or in part by the ineligible noncitizen. If the bills are not being paid, prorate the cost if billed to the NCI. When the deductions are shared, prorate the ineligible noncitizen's portion only. The dependent care deduction is prorated by the computer system, when an IH or IA member type is used with the CCP deduction code. Other deductions must be hand-prorated, before being coded on FSMIS. The system cannot perform these prorations, because it does not have information about how the costs are billed or paid.

For court-ordered child support paid by a unqualified and ineligible noncitizen, divide the amount by the total people in the filing group, to get a share per person. Subtract the share for each ineligible member and count the remainder as the deduction.

Example 1:

In a five-person filing group, there are two ineligible noncitizens and one of them pays $200 per month child support. $200 divided by 5 people = $40 share per person. Two persons are ineligible, so subtract 2 X $40 = $80 from the $200. The countable court ordered support (COS) deduction, then, is the remaining $120.

The calculation for dependent care and shelter deductions is the same, but whether you prorate them depends on whether they are paid by or billed to the ineligible member. If they are being paid, prorate them if a NCI's income is paying them. If they are not being paid but are just incurred, prorate them if they are being billed to an ineligible member. If they are being paid by, or are unpaid and billed to a client who meets the citizen/noncitizen status requirement, they are not prorated, even when there are ineligible members in the group.

Example 2:

A three-person filing group consists of two citizens and one noncitizen who is not eligible for SNAP. The noncitizen pays the $300 per month rent and heating costs for the household. $300 divided by 3 people = $100 share per person. One person is ineligible, so subtract $100 from the $300 and allow the remaining $200 as a shelter deduction. The FUA is allowed as the utility cost. For the same example, if a citizen and the noncitizen were pooling their money to pay the costs, you would prorate only the noncitizen's share. With pooled funds, assume each person pays $150 of the rent. Allow the $150 paid by the citizen. Prorate the NC1's share ($150 ÷ 3 in the filing group = $50 x 2 in the benefit group = $100) for a total Shel deduction of $250. Because utilities are not prorated, allow the FUA.

Use of Income and Income Deductions When There Are Ineligible or Disqualified Group Members; SNAP: 461-160-0410

See the NC1/NC2 Calculation Cheat Sheet for a summary of these steps.

The income of the sponsors of some noncitizens is counted as income to the noncitizen's household, regardless of actual availability, when determining the eligibility and calculating benefits for the household. This is called deeming. However, there are some situations when the deeming requirement will not apply. See Noncitizens A.8 for more information.

For SNAP, deeming does not apply to noncitizens who are under age 18. For sponsored noncitizens age 18 and over, if deeming applies, deem the earned and unearned income of the sponsor and sponsor's spouse as follows:

1. Allow a 20 percent deduction from the earned income of the sponsor and sponsor's spouse. For self-employment with cost, allow 50 percent off their gross income first.

2. Add the earned income after the deduction to the unearned income of the sponsor and sponsor's spouse.

3. Deduct from the total earned and unearned income of the sponsor and sponsor's spouse the countable income limit for a household equal in size to the sponsor's household. Include any person who is a dependent or who receives support from the sponsor or the sponsor's spouse in the sponsor's household.

4. Prorate the income by total of the sponsor's: noncitizens currently being sponsored, household members who receive support from the sponsor and dependents.

5. The final amount is the income to be counted as the income of the sponsored noncitizen.

When to Deem the Assets of a Sponsor of a Noncitizen: 461-145-0830

If deeming applies and the household is not categorically eligible, deem all but $1,500 of the countable resources of the sponsor and sponsor's spouse to the sponsored noncitizen. Deeming does not apply to noncitizens who are under age 18.

Deemed Assets; Overview: 461-145-0810
Deemed Assets; Noncitizen's Sponsor: 461-145-0820