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VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES NONFINANCIAL ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

10/24 VOLUME V, PART VII, APPENDIX I, PAGE 1

SSA Quarters of Coverage Verification Procedures for Legal Immigrants

Individuals who are not citizens of the U.S. may be eligible for SNAP benefits depending on their immigration status. (See Part VII.F.1.) One of the eligible classes requires that the immigrant must be credited with 40 quarters of work. This appendix contains the process for determining the number of qualifying quarters with which an individual can be credited.

To determine the number of quarters available to an eligible immigrant household member, the BPS must obtain answers to the following questions:

1. How long has the applicant, the applicant’s spouse, or the applicant’s parents (before the applicant turned 18) lived in the U.S.?

2. How many years has the applicant, the applicant’s spouse, or the applicant’s parents (before the applicant turned 18) commuted to work in the U.S. from another country before coming to the U.S. to live, or worked abroad for a U.S. company or in self-employment while a legal resident of the U.S.?

(If the total number of years to both questions is less than 10 years, the BPS does not need to ask question 3 because the 40-quarter standard cannot be met.)

3. In how many of the years reported in answer to question 1, did the applicant, the applicant’s spouse, or the applicant’s parent earn money through work?

(To determine whether the applicant’s earnings were sufficient to establish “quarters of coverage” in those years, the BPS should refer to the income chart included in this appendix.)

If the answer to question 3 is 10 years or more, the BPS must verify the date of entry into the country for the applicant, spouse and/or parent using USCIS documents or other documents. If the dates are consistent with having 10 or more years of work, an inquiry through SVES must be made.

Information received through SVES will not report earnings for the current year and possibly not the last year’s earnings. The household must provide verification of earnings through pay stubs, W-2 forms, tax records, employer records, or other documents, if the quarters of this period are needed to qualify for assistance.

If the household believes the information from SSA is inaccurate or incomplete, beyond the current two-year lag period, advise the household to provide verification to the SSA to correct the inaccurate income records.

In evaluating the verification received directly from the household or through SVES, the BPS must exclude any quarter, beginning January 1997 in which the person who earned the quarter received TANF, SSI, Medicaid or SNAP benefits. This evaluation also includes benefits from the Nutritional Assistance Program from Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, or American Samoa.

TRANSMITTAL #35