Welfare and disability!

[Dakine 26]

Does anyone know what will happen if a the original petitioner got disabled after AOS or Removing conditions and have to go on welfare to live after signing a I-864 ?

Does Dept of Human Services communicate with USCIS when a petitioner applies for food stamps, medicaid, publc assistance etc.

Can't see why they would as I doubt there are questions asking if your wife or hubby is an immigrant. Maybe!

I guess it would be different if the immigrant applied. Don't know one way or the other tho.

Ain't there yet but you never know! Especially when one is self employed. Sh!t Happens!

[miker32us 6]

This is an interesting question, if you were to go on food stamps and claimed to have one dependent, the immigrant, and received additional stamps for that dependent, then you would, in theory, be in violation of the terms in the I-864. The I-864 is a contract between the sponsor and USCIS in which the sponsor agrees to support the immigrant. I see there are civil penalties mentioned on the I-864 but they only relate to change of address. Maybe someone else here knows of cases in which sponsors were assessed civil penalites and what mechanism was involved.

The problem is that other government agencies are not connected to USCIS so USCIS has no way of knowing that the immigrant has applied for food stamps, HUD-subsidized housing or medicaid hospital services.

Does anyone know what will happen if a the original petitioner got disabled after AOS or Removing conditions and have to go on welfare to live after signing a I-864 ?

Does Dept of Human Services communicate with USCIS when a petitioner applies for food stamps, medicaid, publc assistance etc.

Can't see why they would as I doubt there are questions asking if your wife or hubby is an immigrant. Maybe!

I guess it would be different if the immigrant applied. Don't know one way or the other tho.

Ain't there yet but you never know! Especially when one is self employed. Sh!t Happens!

[Nagishkaw 510]

Check this out, maybe it will help :

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/lofivers...php/t63059.html

[Jasman0717 9]

I wouldn't think the USCIS would allow someone on welfare to be used as a sponsor. Besides, they probably wouldn't qualify anyway

[Bassi and Zainab 1]

If you are already in the country and married part of the AOS is that the immigrant is not eligible for public assistance for three years after marraige. So, you could receive benefits as the USC but your spouse couldn't for three years. In terms of emergency medicaid, they will provide that at the local level, but they put you on a retainer so to speak and you have to pay back the money per the agreement you signed on behalf of your spouse. If you don't follow repayment agreements they can obviously take you to court and garnish your wages for the money used to provide care to your spouse. SSA won't pay out any disability benefits to your spouse even as an emergency until they are past that three years. And the informatin is maintained by the Dept of Homeland Security and they do in fact connect the information in the system to the social services agencies both federal and local. The added difficulty is that say a disability attorney doesn't understand those laws and refer you to an immigration attorney and an immigration attorney doesn't understand those laws and refer you to a disability attorney. So basically you're SOL unless you have supportive friends and family.

[Caladan 19]

I wouldn't think the USCIS would allow someone on welfare to be used as a sponsor. Besides, they probably wouldn't qualify anyway

"Welfare" is a big tent, covering everything from CHIP to disability payments to WIC to public housing.

There is nothing on the I-864 that says the U.S. citizen must never have used 'welfare.' There is nothing on the I-864 that says the U.S. citizen is giving up all further rights to his or her own ability to collect welfare. There's is nothing that says you have to find a co-sponsor anytime in the next ten years if you lose your job.

From what I understand, the OP is asking whether applying for disability after an approved AOS and/or removed conditions will mean that they'll notify DHS. It would be a different ball of wax if this was before AOS was approved, because then we'd need to know whether disability payments could count as income. (Do you have to tell DHS if you lose your job?)

But after the fact? I can't see how this would be a problem. It's not the immigrant applying for disability, it's the U.S.C.

[Caladan 19]

This is an interesting question, if you were to go on food stamps and claimed to have one dependent, the immigrant, and received additional stamps for that dependent, then you would, in theory, be in violation of the terms in the I-864. The I-864 is a contract between the sponsor and USCIS in which the sponsor agrees to support the immigrant. I see there are civil penalties mentioned on the I-864 but they only relate to change of address. Maybe someone else here knows of cases in which sponsors were assessed civil penalites and what mechanism was involved.

The problem is that other government agencies are not connected to USCIS so USCIS has no way of knowing that the immigrant has applied for food stamps, HUD-subsidized housing or medicaid hospital services.

Does anyone know what will happen if a the original petitioner got disabled after AOS or Removing conditions and have to go on welfare to live after signing a I-864 ?

Does Dept of Human Services communicate with USCIS when a petitioner applies for food stamps, medicaid, publc assistance etc.

Can't see why they would as I doubt there are questions asking if your wife or hubby is an immigrant. Maybe!

I guess it would be different if the immigrant applied. Don't know one way or the other tho.

Ain't there yet but you never know! Especially when one is self employed. Sh!t Happens!

Actually I'm pretty sure that the I-864 specifically excludes food stamps and the like. (People did read this before they signed it, right?)

Q7: Are there public benefits that aliens can legally receive without worrying that the INS and State will consider them a public charge?

A7: Yes. Not all publicly funded benefits will be considered by the INS or the State Department in deciding whether someone is or is likely to become a public charge. The focus of public charge is on cash benefits for income maintenance and institutionalization for long-term care at government expense. Examples of benefits that will not be considered for public charge purposes include:

• Medicaid and other health insurance and health services (including public assistance for immunizations and for testing and treatment of symptoms of communicable diseases; use of health clinics, prenatal care, etc.) other than support for institutionalization for long-term care

• Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

• Nutrition programs, including Food Stamps, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs, and other supplementary and emergency food assistance programs

• Housing assistance

• Child care services

• Energy assistance, such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

• Emergency disaster relief

• Foster care and adoption assistance

• Educational assistance, including benefits under the Head Start Act and aid for elementary, secondary, or higher education

• Job training programs

• In-kind, community-based programs, services, or assistance (such as soup kitchens, crisis counseling and intervention, and short-term shelter).

Note that not all categories of aliens are eligible to receive all of the types of benefits described above.

The concern is with cash-based public assistance, where the person is likely to become a public charge.

[LaL 418]

Maybe I skimmed too fast, but I am confused at some of the responses.

Haole stated the "original petitioner" (USC) may be disabled thus going on assistance. There is no stipulation that the USC cannot get government benefits when sponsoring someone - they only will most likely need a joint sponsor.

But yes, Haole - it would be different if the immigrant applied.

Edited October 12, 2007 by LaL

[Mags 112]

Actually I'm pretty sure that the I-864 specifically excludes food stamps and the like. (People did read this before they signed it, right?)

Q7: Are there public benefits that aliens can legally receive without worrying that the INS and State will consider them a public charge?

A7: Yes. Not all publicly funded benefits will be considered by the INS or the State Department in deciding whether someone is or is likely to become a public charge. The focus of public charge is on cash benefits for income maintenance and institutionalization for long-term care at government expense. Examples of benefits that will not be considered for public charge purposes include:

• Medicaid and other health insurance and health services (including public assistance for immunizations and for testing and treatment of symptoms of communicable diseases; use of health clinics, prenatal care, etc.) other than support for institutionalization for long-term care

• Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

• Nutrition programs, including Food Stamps, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs, and other supplementary and emergency food assistance programs

• Housing assistance

• Child care services

• Energy assistance, such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

• Emergency disaster relief

• Foster care and adoption assistance

• Educational assistance, including benefits under the Head Start Act and aid for elementary, secondary, or higher education

• Job training programs

• In-kind, community-based programs, services, or assistance (such as soup kitchens, crisis counseling and intervention, and short-term shelter).

Note that not all categories of aliens are eligible to receive all of the types of benefits described above.

The concern is with cash-based public assistance, where the person is likely to become a public charge.

Thanks for this post, Caladan. We tend to forget that there are so many programs that immigrants ARE entitled to simply because people ARE scared of the "public charge" issue.

[Caladan 19]

I think we make that mistake because so many of the benefits are means-tested, so we falsely assume that if the USC is using any benefits, they won't meet 125% of the poverty line. But they are indeed two separate concerns! Some benefits are means-tested but allow people at 150% of the poverty line to use it (like CHIP.)

The I-864 is explicitly concerned with cash-equivalence assistance and (this is probably the big one) recurring medical bills on the government dime. Needing food stamps does not make one a public charge.