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TANF POLICY MANUAL

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The four-month eligibility period will begin as described below: a) Refugees, and Afghans and Iraqis with special immigrant visas; eligibility period begins the date of arrival indicated on the I-94.

b) Cuban/Haitian entrants; eligibility period begins the date of approval stamped on the I-94 or passport.

c) Asylees; eligibility period begins the date asylum is granted.

d) Victims of human trafficking; eligibility period begins the date indicated on the certification letter.

The four-month eligibility period may differ from the RCA benefit period. Benefits may only be issued from the date the application is received by DSS. Once the four-month eligibility period is established, and the refugee is determined eligible for RCA, the first month cash benefit is prorated from the date the application was filed.

3. RCA Payment Level The (RCA) benefit is based on the refugee family composition. The family size for RCA will be considered at the same level as the eligible filing unit for the TANF program. RCA is only available to adults without dependent children; therefore, the RCA benefit group will only consist of a family with one (1) or two (2) adults. A refugee family with dependent children must apply for TANF.

The RCA family size and current monthly benefit amount effective federal fiscal year 2026:

NOTE: This benefit amount will change when the TANF payment amount changes.

4. Assignment of RCA Case Numbers The county is responsible for the assignment of RCA case numbers prior to submitting the application to Refugee Resettlement Program (RRP) for processing. If the refugee applies for SNAP benefits as well as RCA, the SNAP case number should be used for the RCA case. When the SNAP household consists of several adults, some who may apply for separate RCA benefits, the same CHIP case number should be used by adding a numbered suffix for each RCA recipient.

If the Refugee applies for RCA only, and no CHIP number is available, the county should establish a numbering system that consists of the county number as a prefix followed by the first seven (7) digits of the refugee’s social security number or use the client’s non-citizen number.

RCA Payments Number in Benefit Group Payment 1 $263 2 $356