Hotline 4/14: Less than 5 years LPR status and SNAP

Q. 1. My SNAP applicant is an 18-year-old who is also a noncitizen. She currently lives alone after recently separating from her spouse and moving out of her father’s home. Her father entered the country 12 years ago with an LPR status and my SNAP applicant entered the country with an LPR status three years ago. Now that this applicant is 18 years of age, is she still eligible for SNAP?
A. 1. It depends. A SNAP individual who has aged out of the under-18 LPR category must now comply with other noncitizen eligibility criteria, or other LPR requirements. For this applicant, other LPR requirements include crediting her with a total of 40 qualifying work quarters, determining if she is disabled, etc. For more information on acceptable LPR criteria in SNAP, see 106 CMR 362.220(B)(7).

NOTE: An individual with less than five years in an LPR status, if otherwise eligible, could be approved for EAEDC benefits. For more information on acceptable noncitizen statuses in the EAEDC Program, see 106 CMR 320.620.

Q. 2. If the SNAP noncitizen in Q. 1. (above) does not meet the combined LPR 40 quarter work qualification, or any of the other LPR qualifying criteria, are there other ways she could still = remain eligible for SNAP as a noncitizen?
A. 2. Yes. This applicant may still qualify, if prior to adjustment to LPR status, she held another noncitizen qualifying status, such as:

• a Refugee under section 207 of the INA, including a victim of severe forms of trafficking,
• an Asylee under section 208 of the INA,
• a noncitizen whose deportation was being withheld under section 243(h) or 241(b)(3) of the INA,
• a Cuban/Haitian entrant as defined in section 501(e) of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 or
• an Amerasian immigrant as defined in section 584 of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1988. See 106 CMR 362.220(B) for more information.