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UPDATED: NOVEMBER 2009 641

OTHER ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION STATUS

PRUCOL

Description: The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) (formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Services [INS]), or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and/or the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), under the Department of State, are collectively referred to in this document as “the federal immigration agency” or “agency”.

PRUCOL is an acronym for persons Permanently Residing Under Color Of Law. The federal immigration agency does not determine whether an alien is PRUCOL and does not grant PRUCOL status. This is because PRUCOL is not a federal immigration status. Rather, PRUCOL is a public benefits eligibility status. Immigrants who are PRUCOL for Medicaid eligibility purposes and who may be eligible for Medicaid are any immigrants who are permanently residing in the United States with the knowledge and permission or acquiescence of the federal immigration agency and whose departure from the United States the federal immigration agency does not contemplate enforcing.

An immigrant will be considered as one whose departure the agency does not contemplate enforcing if:

a. Based on all the facts and circumstances in that particular case, it appears that the federal immigration agency is otherwise permitting the immigrant to reside in the United States indefinitely; or

b. It is the policy or practice of the federal immigration agency not to enforce the departure of immigrants in a particular category.

Policy: The Medicaid eligibility worker must determine whether the alien is PRUCOL based upon the documentation that the alien, or the alien’s representative, presents. An alien who establishes that he or she is PRUCOL is eligible for State Medicaid and FHPlus benefits if the alien meets the programs’ financial and other eligibility requirements, regardless of the date the immigrant entered the U.S. (Aliessa v. Novello, 06/01). There is no longer a five-year waiting period. (MRG)