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SPONSORED ALIENS 7.7 ALL When PRWORA created categories of immigrants who could qualify for Federal means-tested public benefits, such as TANF, Medicaid, and Food Stamps, it also imposed requirements that restricted the eligibility of those qualified immigrants. Among those mandates is a requirement to deem a sponsor’s income and resources to some non-citizens when determining their eligibility for and amount of their benefits. A sponsor is anyone who executed an affidavit of support on behalf of an immigrant as a condition of the immigrant’s entry into the U.S. Because courts had held that the affidavits of support in use at the time PRWORA was enacted were not legally binding contracts between the sponsor and the U.S. government, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, amended PRWORA requiring creation of a new affidavit of support for sponsors of certain lawful immigrants and new rules for deeming income and resources from the sponsor to the sponsored immigrant. A new legally enforceable affidavit of support, INS Form I-864, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the (Immigration and Nationality) Act, otherwise known as, an I-864 Affidavit, was instituted and took effect on December 19, 1997. Who is Subject to Sponsor to Immigrant Deeming 7.7.1

The responsibility of an alien sponsor to support a sponsored immigrant depends upon the relationship of the sponsor to the immigrant and the immigration status of the immigrant. The only immigrants whose sponsors have signed legally binding I-864 Affidavits are family-based Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs) and a few employment-based LPRs. Most family-based immigrants, including immediate relatives, family preference immigrants and some orphans, must submit an I-864 Affidavit when they file a visa application or apply for an adjustment to LPR status on or after December 19, 1997. In addition, an employment- based immigrant who is coming to work for a relative or work for a company in which a relative holds at least five percent ownership must file an I-864 Affidavit.

Exceptions to Sponsor to Immigrant Deeming 7.7.2 The following groups are not subject to sponsor to immigrant deeming:  immigrants who became LPRs before December 19, 1997, or filed for LPR status before December 19, 1997;  immigrants whose sponsors signed affidavits of support before December 19, 1997;  immigrants without sponsors;  immigrants sponsored by organizations;  immigrants who are a battered spouse, battered child or parent, or child of a battered person providing the battered alien lives in a separate household from the person responsible for the battery;  immigrants who are included in the same assistance unit as their sponsor; citizen, is the only member of the family that meets the immigration-related requirements of the three programs, other than Emergency Medicaid. The SSR should not ask Ms. Hernandez any further questions about her immigration status or that of Maria.

Example 2 Mr. Pak, his daughter, and his severely disabled sister apply for Medicaid and FS. Mr. Pak must fill out an Immigration and Citizenship Initial Declaration Form that lists all three members of the household since under FS rules they would generally all be included in the FS unit since they all purchase and prepare food together. Mr. Pak indicates that he and his daughter are not citizens or nationals and that their immigration status matches one of those listed on the form. He indicates that his sister’s immigration status does not match one of those listed on the form. The CAD form he fills out should list only himself and his daughter, not his sister.