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Page | 47 A conventional fixed residence (e.g., house or apartment) is not required to determine eligibility. Persons living in tents, pick-up campers, migrant campsites, etc. satisfy the residence requirement.

All applications must contain a legible address and/or directions that will allow a home visit or other means of verifying residence, if necessary.

3210 RESIDENCE VERIFICATION

Specialists usually verify residence while verifying other things like rent, mortgage, or utility payments. Specialists must use these sources as much as possible so that the household does not have to get an unnecessary separate verification for residence. Otherwise, the Specialist may use other readily available documentary evidence or a collateral contact for this purpose. If a collateral contact is used to verify residence, the name of the person and their contact information should be fully documented.

Verification of residence might be impossible or very difficult to get in unusual circumstances. For example, migrants or other persons new in an area may be living in campsites or cars and might not have documents or a person or organization to use as a collateral contact. Specialists do not deny the application under these or similar conditions if both the Specialist and the household have made reasonable efforts to verify residence but have not been able to. Such unusual circumstances must be thoroughly documented.

3300 CITIZENSHIP AND ALIEN STATUS

All applicants must list the citizenship status for all household members who are requesting assistance. The signature on the Economic Assistance Application, attests to the status for all household members. If the citizenship question on the form is not answered, that individual is ineligible to receive SNAP benefits. The individual will, however, be required to answer questions and submit verifications about his/her income, resources, etc. This information could affect eligibility and benefit level of the household.

When either a household or individual indicates inability or unwillingness to attest to the alien status for any household member, the person whose alien status is in question is an ineligible (not illegal) alien. If the individual is determined ineligible, we cannot continue efforts to obtain documentation of alien status. The household will, however, be required to answer questions and submit verifications about the excluded individual’s income, resources, etc. The income and resources of those individuals are described in detail in the income and resource chapters.

3310 ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA – GENERAL

The individual is eligible to participate if he/she is:

1. A U.S. Citizen; or 2. A U.S. non-citizen national; or 3. A child under 18 who was born in a foreign county to U.S. parents and entered the U.S. before his/her 18th birthday; or 4. A child under 18 who was adopted by U.S. parents and entered the U.S. before his/her 18th birthday; or 5. An American Indian who: a) Was born in Canada or Mexico and possesses 50 per centum of blood of the North American Indian Race; or b) Is a member of an American Indian Tribe.