How does being a sponsored immigrant affect my eligibility for cash and food assistance programs?

(b) "Sponsor" means a person who agreed to meet the needs of a sponsored immigrant by signing an INS Affidavit of Support form I-864 or I-864A. This includes a sponsor's spouse if the spouse signed the affidavit of support.

(c) "Sponsored immigrant" means a person who must have a sponsor under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to be admitted into the United States for residence.

(d) "Deeming" means the department counts a part of the sponsor's income and resources as available to the sponsored immigrant.

(e) "Exempt" means you meet one of the conditions of WAC 388-450-0156 . If you are exempt:

(i) You do not need to provide us information about your sponsor's income and resources; and

(ii) We do not deem your sponsor's income or resources to you.

(2) If you are a sponsored immigrant and you are not exempt, you must do the following to be eligible for benefits even if your sponsor is not supporting you:

(a) Give us the name and address of your sponsor;

(b) Get your sponsor to provide us the information we need about their income and resources; and

(c) Give us the information and proof we need to decide:

(i) If we must deem income to your assistance unit (AU); and

(ii) The amount of income we deem to your AU.

(3) If you are not eligible for benefits because we do not have the information we need about your sponsor, we do not delay benefits to the unsponsored people in your AU who are eligible for benefits. We do not count your needs when we decide if your AU is eligible for benefits, but we count:

(a) All earned or unearned income you have that is not excluded under WAC 388-450-0015 ; and

(b) All deductions you would be eligible for under chapter 388-450 WAC.

(4) If you refuse to provide us with the information we need about your sponsor, the other adult members in your AU must provide the information. If the same person sponsored everyone in your AU, your AU is not eligible for benefits until someone in your AU provides us the information we need.

(5) If you are an ineligible member of your AU, but you must be the AU under chapter 388-408 WAC, we do not deem your sponsor's income or resources to the AU.