PERMANENT RULES
SOCIAL AND HEALTH SERVICES
(Economic Services Administration)
(Division of Assistance Programs)
Date of Adoption: October 4, 2001.
Purpose: Amend existing rules and create a new rule to implement federal regulations for sponsored aliens. Amending WAC 388-450-0155 How does being a sponsored immigrant affect my eligibility for cash, medical, and food assistance programs?, 388-450-0160 How does the department decide how much of my sponsor's income to count against my benefits? and 388-470-0060 How does the department decide now much of my sponsor's resources affect my eligibility for cash, medical, or food assistance benefits?; and creating WAC 388-450-0156 When am I exempt from the deeming process?
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 388-450-0155, 388-450-0160, and 388-470-0060.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.057, 74.04.510.
Other Authority: Title 7, Chapter II, Part 273 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Adopted under notice filed as WSR 01-16-088 on July 25, 2001.
Changes Other than Editing from Proposed to Adopted Version: Changes were made at request of advocates to add emphasis to available exemptions and add clarity to the rules.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 1, Amended 3, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 1, Amended 3, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 1, Amended 3, Repealed 0.
Other Findings Required by Other Provisions of Law as Precondition to Adoption or Effectiveness of Rule: The United
States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services
(FNS) published new regulations on how to count the income of an
alien's sponsor to the alien. FNS published these rules in Title
7, Chapter II, Part 273 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
States are required to implement these changes by June 1, 2001.
Effective Date of Rule:
November 1, 2001.
October 4, 2001
Brian H. Lindgren, Manager
Rules and Policies Assistance Unit
2949.5(1) Deeming is the process of determining the amount of an alien's sponsor's income available to the alien.
(2) Any alien whose sponsor is a public or private organization is ineligible for assistance for three years from the date of entry for permanent residence into the United States, unless the agency or organization is:
(a) No longer in existence; or
(b) Has become unable to meet the alien's needs.
(3) A sponsor is any individual or public or private organization who executes an affidavit or similar agreement on behalf of an alien (who is not the dependent child of the sponsor or the sponsor's spouse) as a condition of the alien's entry into the United States.
(a) The affidavit or agreement is irrevocable, and
(b) Extends for a minimum of three years after the alien's entry for permanent residence into the United States.
(4) For a period of three years following entry for permanent residence into the United States, an individually sponsored alien is responsible for:
(a) Providing the department with any information and documentation necessary to determine the income of the sponsor that can be deemed available to the alien; and
(b) Obtaining any cooperation necessary from the sponsor.
(5) For all subsections in this section, the income of an individual sponsor (and the sponsor's spouse if living with the sponsor) is deemed to be the unearned income of an alien for three years following the alien's entry for permanent residence into the United States.
(6) Monthly income deemed available to the alien from the individual sponsor or the sponsor's spouse not receiving TANF/SFA or SSI is:
(a) The sponsor's total monthly unearned income, added to the sponsor's total monthly earned income reduced by twenty percent (not to exceed one hundred seventy-five dollars) of the total of any amounts received by the sponsor in the month as wages or salary or as net earnings from self-employment, plus the full amount of any costs incurred in producing self-employment income in the month.
(b) The amount described in (a) of this subsection reduced by:
(i) The basic requirements standard for a family of the same size and composition as the sponsor and those other persons living in the same household as the sponsor claimed by the sponsor as dependents to determine the sponsor's federal personal income tax liability but who are not TANF/SFA recipients;
(ii) Any amounts actually paid by the sponsor to persons not living in the household claimed by the sponsor as dependents to determine the sponsor's federal personal income tax liability; and
(iii) Actual payments of spousal maintenance or child support with respect to persons not living in the sponsor's household.
(7) In any case where a person is the sponsor of two or more aliens, the sponsor's income is divided equally among the aliens to the extent that the income would be deemed the income of any one of the aliens under provisions of this section.
(8) The income deemed to a sponsored alien in determining the need of other unsponsored members of the alien's family is not considered except to the extent that the income is actually available.
(9) For the GA-U program, the alien's sponsor's income is deemed as available to the alien as provided for the TANF/SFA program:
(a) At application, for applications filed on or after July 8, 1994. For the purposes of this rule, re-application filed following a break in assistance of thirty days or more is considered an application; and
(b) For all other GA-U clients, the income of an alien's sponsor is not deemed as available to the client)) (1) The following definitions apply to this section:
(a) "INS" means the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service.
(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.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.055, 74.04.057 and 74.08.090. 98-16-044, 388-450-0155, filed 7/31/98, effective 9/1/98.]
(a) The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) does not require you to have a sponsor. Immigrants who are not required to have a sponsor include those with the following status with Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS):
(i) Refugee;
(ii) Parolee;
(iii) Asylee;
(iv) Cuban entrant; or
(v) Haitian entrant.
(b) You were sponsored by an organization or group as opposed to an individual;
(c) You do not meet the alien status requirements to be eligible for benefits under chapter 388-424 WAC;
(d) You have worked or can get credit for forty qualifying quarters of work under Title II of the Social Security Act. We do not count a quarter of work toward this requirement if the person working received TANF, food stamps, SSI, CHIP, or nonemergency Medicaid benefits. We count a quarter of work by the following people toward your forty qualifying quarters:
(i) Yourself;
(ii) Each of your parents for the time they worked before you turned eighteen years old (including the time they worked before you were born); and
(iii) Your spouse if you are still married or your spouse is deceased.
(e) You become a United States (U.S.) Citizen;
(f) Your sponsor is dead; or
(g) If INS or a court decides that you, your child, or your parent was a victim of domestic violence from your sponsor and:
(i) You no longer live with your sponsor; and
(ii) Leaving your sponsor caused your need for benefits.
(2) You are exempt from the deeming process while you are in the same AU as your sponsor;
(3) For state family assistance, general assistance, the food assistance program for legal immigrants, and state-funded medical assistance for legal immigrants you are exempt from the deeming process if:
(a) Your sponsor signed the affidavit of support more than five years ago;
(b) Your sponsor becomes permanently incapacitated; or
(c) You are a qualified alien according to WAC 388-424-0005 and you:
(i) Are on active duty with the U.S. armed forces or you are the spouse or unmarried dependent child of someone on active duty;
(ii) Are an honorably-discharged veteran of the U.S. armed forces or you are the spouse or unmarried dependent child of a honorably-discharged veteran;
(iii) Were employed by an agency of the U.S. government or served in the armed forces of an allied country during a military conflict between the U.S. and a military opponent; or
(iv) Are a victim of domestic violence and you have petitioned for legal status under the Violence Against Women Act.
(4) If you, your child, or your parent was a victim of domestic violence, you are exempt from the deeming process for twelve months if:
(a) You no longer live with the person who committed the violence; and
(b) Leaving this person caused your need for benefits.
(5) If your AU has income at or below one hundred thirty percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), you are exempt from the deeming process for twelve months. For this rule, we count the following as income to your AU:
(a) Earned and unearned income your AU receives from any source; and
(b) Any noncash items of value such as free rent, commodities, goods, or services you receive from an individual or organization.
(6) If you are exempt from deeming because your AU does not have income over one hundred thirty percent of the FPL, we give the United States Attorney General the following information:
(a) The names of the sponsored people in your AU;
(b) That you are exempt from deeming due to your income; and
(c) Your sponsor's name.
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(1) For the purpose of this rule, income of the sponsor means:
(a) Income of the sponsor; and
(b) Income of the sponsor's spouse when the spouse lives with the sponsor.
(2) Portions of the income of a sponsor is counted as unearned income and applied to the food assistance benefits of a sponsored alien. The income of an alien's sponsor is available for three years following the alien's admission for permanent residence to the U.S.
(3) The income of the alien's sponsor must be verified by the client at application or recertification for food assistance.
(4) The available income is computed as follows:
(a) Total monthly earned and unearned income of the sponsor:
(i) Minus twenty percent of the gross earned income; and
(ii) Minus the amount of the gross income eligibility standard for a household size equal to the sponsor, the sponsor's spouse, and all dependents.
(b) Plus any actual money paid to the alien by the sponsor or sponsor's spouse in excess of the amount computed in subsection (4)(a) of this section is treated as unearned income.
(5) The net income in subsection (4) of this section is available to a sponsored alien who:
(a) Applies for and receives food assistance; or
(b) Is recertified for food assistance.
(6) If the sponsored alien can show the sponsor is also sponsoring other aliens, the available income is divided by the number of sponsored aliens applying for, or receiving food assistance.
(7) If an alien changes sponsors during the certification period, available income is reviewed based on the required information about the new sponsor as soon as possible after the information is supplied and verified by the client)) (1) We must count some of your sponsor's income as unearned income to your assistance unit (AU) if:
(a) Your sponsor signed the INS affidavit of support form I-864 or I-864A; and
(b) You are not exempt from the deeming process under WAC 388-450-0156.
(2) We take the following steps to decide the monthly amount of your sponsor's income we deem as your income and count against your benefits:
(a) We start with your sponsor's earned and unearned income that is not excluded under WAC 388-450-0015;
(b) If your sponsor's spouse signed the affidavit of support, we add all of the spouse's earned and unearned income that is not excluded under WAC 388-450-0015;
(c) We subtract twenty percent of the above amount that is earned income under WAC 388-450-0030;
(d) For cash and medical assistance, we subtract the need standard under WAC 388-478-0015. We count the following people who live in your sponsor's home as a part of your sponsor's AU to decide the need standard:
(i) Your sponsor;
(ii) Your sponsor's spouse; and
(iii) Everyone else in their home that they could claim as a dependent for Federal income tax purposes.
(e) For food assistance, we subtract the maximum gross monthly income under WAC 388-478-0060. We count the following people that live in your sponsor's home as a part of your sponsor's AU to decide the maximum gross monthly income:
(i) Your sponsor;
(ii) Your sponsor's spouse; and
(iii) Everyone else in their home that they could claim as a dependent for Federal income tax purposes.
(f) If you can show that your sponsor has sponsored other people as well, we divide the result by the total number of people who they sponsored.
(3) After we have decided how much income to deem to you, we count the greater amount of the following against your benefits:
(a) The amount of income calculated from deeming; or
(b) The amount of money your sponsor actually gives you for your needs.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 74.08.090 and 74.04.510. 99-16-024, 388-450-0160, filed 7/26/99, effective 9/1/99. Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.055, 74.04.057 and 74.08.090. 98-16-044, 388-450-0160, filed 7/31/98, effective 9/1/98.]
2950.3(2) A sponsor is any person or organization that signed an affidavit of support on behalf of the alien to allow the alien entry for permanent residence.
(3) The sponsor's countable resources are determined by:
(a) Totaling the countable resources of the sponsor and the sponsor's spouse (if they are living together); and
(b) Subtracting fifteen hundred dollars.
(4) Subsection (3) above does not apply when:
(a) The alien is receiving cash or food assistance as a member of the sponsor's assistance unit;
(b) An alien is sponsored by an organization; or
(c) An alien is not required to have a sponsor.
(5) The sponsor's countable resources are counted towards the alien's resource limit until:
(a) The three year time period expires; or
(b) The sponsor dies.
(6) For medical programs, the resources of the sponsor are excluded resources unless:
(a) The sponsor is a member of the alien's assistance unit; or
(b) The sponsor actually contributes resources to the alien's assistance unit)) (1) If you are a sponsored immigrant as defined in WAC 388-450-0155, and you are not exempt from deeming under WAC 388-450-0156, we count part of your sponsor's resources as available to you.
(2) We decide the amount of your sponsor's resources to count by:
(a) Totaling the countable resources of the sponsor and the sponsor's spouse (if the spouse signed the affidavit of support) under chapter 388-470 WAC;
(b) Subtracting fifteen hundred dollars; and
(c) Counting the remaining amount as a resource that is available to you.
(3) If you can show that your sponsor has sponsored other people as well, we divide the result by the total number of people who they sponsored.
(4) We continue to count your sponsor's resources when we determine your eligibility for benefits until you are exempt from deeming under WAC 388-450-0156.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.055, 74.04.057 and 74.08.090. 98-16-044, 388-470-0060, filed 7/31/98, effective 9/1/98. Formerly WAC 388-510-1030.]