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SNAP CERTIFICATION MANUAL – SECTIONS 1000 1600 Determining Household Composition 1621.7.1 Citizenship Requirements for Sponsored Aliens

• Ineligible aliens • Aliens participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as a member of the sponsor’s household. • Aliens sponsored by an organization or group rather than an individual. • Indigent aliens (see SNAP 1621.7.2 for additional information). • Sponsored aliens who have forty (40) qualified quarters of work as per SNAP 1621.3.2. • Aliens under eighteen (18) years of age (see SNAP 1621.3). At each initial application and at each application for renewal afterward, the sponsored alien must provide information about his or her sponsor. Deeming, which is the attribution of the sponsor’s income and resources to the alien, lasts until the alien becomes a naturalized citizen (meaning, they can be credited with forty (40) qualifying quarters of work (SNAP 1621.3.2)) or the sponsor dies. The eligibility worker may verify whether an immigrant has a sponsor who has signed a binding affidavit of support by submitting to INS the Document Verification Request and Supplement form (INS Form G-845 and G-845 Supplement) and requesting completion of block #7 - Affidavit of Support. Pending receipt of this form from INS, the worker will not delay, deny, reduce, or terminate the individual’s SNAP benefits if he or she is otherwise eligible. 1621.7.1 Citizenship Requirements for Sponsored Aliens SNAP Manual 07/01/2026 Sponsored aliens must meet the citizenship requirements in SNAP 1621 and 1621.1. If not, the sponsored alien is ineligible to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the deeming procedures will not apply. For sponsored aliens who meet the requirements in SNAP 1621.1 because they can be credited with forty (40) quarters of work, no deeming will apply. Sponsored aliens who meet the requirements in SNAP 1621 and SNAP 1621.1 for other reasons, must meet the deeming procedures. Deeming will be delayed for twelve (12) calendar months for aliens who have been battered by a spouse, a parent, or another member of the household, if the battering is substantially connected to the need for benefits. This also applies to the alien child of a battered parent. (In other words, the alien had to leave the household where the battering occurred and, as a result they are in need of SNAP benefits.) After twelve (12) calendar months, deeming of the sponsor’s income and resources is permanently eliminated if the battery has been substantiated in a court or by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the battery has substantial connection to the need for benefits. These provisions do not apply if the battered alien lives with the batterer. If the battered alien does live with the batterer and is a sponsored alien, the sponsor’s income and resources will be deemed.