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Title 7: SNAP Page 27 Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Employees’ Manual Chapter I: Specific Households and Participants Households with Alien Members Revised February 13, 2026 Establishing Qualifying Orders Verifying Qualifying Quarters The alien is responsible to get verification of qualifying quarters. This includes getting verification of the qualifying quarters earned by a spouse, parent, or stepparent. In addition to verification from the Social Security Administration, you can use documentation such as:  Wage stubs  Employer’s statement  Income tax forms If the alien does not have acceptable proof the alien must get verification from the Social Security Administration. The Social Security Administration (SSA) can verify quarters starting with the year 1930. If an alien provides verification from SSA, but believes there is a discrepancy in the SSA records, the alien must get verification from SSA that SSA is investigating the discrepancy. While the investigation is being conducted, the alien can get SNAP benefits for a maximum of six months from the date that SSA decided to make the investigation. If the SSA investigation continues past six months, the alien cannot get SNAP benefits until SSA has verified that the alien can be credited with 40 qualifying quarters. Sponsored Aliens Legal reference: 8 U.S.C. §1183a, 7 CFR 273.4(c) A “sponsor” is a person who signed an agreement as a condition of the alien’s entry or admission into the United States as a permanent resident to guarantee financial support of the alien. Counting the sponsor’s income and resources towards the sponsored alien is called “deeming.” NOTE: If the sponsored alien is ineligible for SNAP because of immigration status, the sponsor’s income is not deemed to other members of the non-citizen’s household. There are two types of sponsored aliens, each with a specific policy for deeming of the sponsor’s income and resources. These types are identified by their documentation:  Aliens whose sponsor signed the Affidavit of Support, form I-134 (used before December 19, 1997). This form is not an enforceable contract and a court cannot force the sponsor to continue to support the non-citizen. Deeming does not apply to aliens sponsored under this form.