The United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) released a fact sheet clarifying the issue of what benefits can make one a public charge.
Accepting the following can lead to a public charge determination (determined on a case by case basis):
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
- Cash assistance from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program
- State or local cash assistance programs for income maintenance (general assistance programs)
Others that do not lead to a negative determination:
- Medicaid and other health insurance and health services (including public assistance for immunizations and for testing and treatment of symptoms of communicable diseases, use of health clinics, short-term rehabilitation services, prenatal care and emergency medical services) other than support for long-term institutional care
- Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
- Nutrition programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program(SNAP) commonly referred to as Food Stamps
- -he Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
- the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program, and other supplementary and emergency food assistance programs
- Housing benefits
- Child care services
- Energy assistance, such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program(LIHEAP)
- Emergency disaster relief
- Foster care and adoption assistance
- Educational assistance (such as attending public school), including benefits under theHead Start Act and aid for elementary, secondary or higher education
- Job training programs
- In-kind, community-based programs, services or assistance (such as soup kitchens,
- crisis counseling and intervention, and short-term shelter)
- Non-cash benefits under TANF such as subsidized child care or transit subsidies
- Cash payments that have been earned, such as Title II Social Security benefits,government pensions, and veterans’ benefits, and other forms of earned benefits
- Unemployment compensation
Ricky Malik, Esq.
Law Offices of Ricky Malik
