Page 8
electronically. The email address is listed on the Division’s “Application for Services” form and via automated message through DPA’s VCC at 1-800-478-7778, and both email and secure messaging addresses are listed on the Division’s website at https://health.alaska.gov/dpa. A fee agent network is active in over two hundred of Alaska’s rural and certain urban communities. Fee agents accept applications for all Alaska public assistance programs. The Division also has an active contract for services with the interpreter service, Language Link Solutions. This 240-language interpreter service empowers Alaska residents to cross the language barrier and seek public assistance. In April 2021, the Division launched a virtual contact center. The Virtual Contact Center (VCC) enables recipients to interact with a live person over the phone from 8 AM – 5 PM, Monday through Friday, excluding State of Alaska observed holidays. Recipients can check the status of an application, ask general questions, and apply and participate in an interview for all public assistance programs from the comfort and convenience of their home. 3.4 NON-CITIZENS Alaska will provide ATAP coverage to otherwise eligible non- citizens classified as “qualified” aliens as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1641. Qualified aliens who arrived in the country prior to the August 22, 1996, enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) may receive assistance immediately upon application for assistance. Qualified aliens who entered the country on or after August 22, 1996, are ineligible for Temporary Assistance for the first five years they reside in the country, unless they are determined to be exempt from the five-year waiting period because of their immigration status (such as a refugee or asylee). In determining eligibility for qualified aliens, a portion of the income and assets of the immigrant’s sponsor are counted. Non-qualified aliens are not eligible for Alaska Temporary Assistance. 3.5 60-MONTH TIME LIMIT Families are not eligible if the family includes an adult who has received 60 months of assistance from ATAP, a TANF-funded program in another state, or a Native TANF- funded program. After 60 months, a family may receive a benefits extension based on hardship if the Division determines the family is unable to become self- supporting because of: • domestic violence; • physical or mental inability to perform gainful activity; • caring for a child or relative who is experiencing a disability; or • other hardship defined by the Division in regulation. Alaska TANF State Plan P lan Effective December 31, 2025 4 | P a g e