For the purposes of determining an individual's citizenship and immigration status for public assistance, the following definitions apply:

(1) "Lawfully present" are immigrants or noncitizens who have been inspected and admitted into the United States and have not overstayed the period for which they were admitted, or have current permission from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) to stay or live in the U.S.

(2) "Qualified aliens" are lawfully present immigrants defined in federal law as one of the following:

(a) Individuals lawfully admitted for permanent residence (LPRs).

(b) Individuals who are admitted to the U.S. as refugees under INA §207. The following individuals are treated the same as refugees in their eligibility for public assistance:

(i) Hmong or Highland Lao are members of a Hmong or Highland Laotian tribe which rendered military assistance to the U.S. during the Vietnam era (August 5, 1964, to May 7, 1975), and are "lawfully present" in the U.S. This category also includes the spouse (including unremarried widow or widower) or unmarried dependent child of such tribal members.

(ii) Victims of trafficking according to federal law are:

(A) Individuals who have been certified as victims of trafficking by the federal U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office on Trafficking in Person (OTIP), or have been granted a T visa.

(B) Immediate family members of trafficking victims. Immediate family members are the spouse or child of a victim of any age and the parent or unmarried minor sibling if the victim is under 21 years old.

(iii) Afghan nationals and their spouses and children, paroled into the U.S. between July 31, 2021, and September 30, 2022, after evacuation from Afghanistan to the U.S., or to a location overseas: or

(A) an individual who was paroled into the U.S. after September 30, 2022, and is the spouse or child of an Afghan national as defined in subsection (iii) of this section;

(B) an individual who is the parent or legal guardian of an individual defined in subsection (iii) of this section who is determined to be an unaccompanied child;

(iv) Special immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan are individuals granted:

(A) Special immigrant status under INA §101 (a)(27);

(B) Special immigrant conditional permanent resident; or

(v) Individuals from Ukraine and their family members admitted as humanitarian parolees between February 24, 2022, and September 30, 2023, and whose parole has not been terminated by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), who are:

(A) Citizens or nationals of Ukraine;

(B) Non-Ukrainian individuals who were habitually residing in Ukraine, and have documentation confirming last habitual residence in Ukraine;

(C) Individuals who were first granted humanitarian parole, and then obtained temporary protected status (TPS). They are eligible for federally funded assistance until the end of their parole term due to underlying receipt of humanitarian parole;

(D) A spouse or child of an individual described in subsections (A)-(C) of this section who is paroled into the United States after September 30, 2023;

(E) A parent, legal guardian, or primary caregiver of an unaccompanied refugee minor or an unaccompanied child described in subsections (A)-(C) of this section who is paroled into the United States after September 30, 2023.

(d) Cuban/Haitian entrants. These are nationals of Cuba or Haiti who were paroled into the U.S. or given other special status.

(e) Abused spouses or children, parents of abused children, or children of abused spouses:

(i) When the alien no longer resides with the person who committed the abuse, and has one of the following:

(A) A pending or approved I-130 petition or application to immigrate as an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen or as the spouse or unmarried child under age 21 of a lawful permanent resident (LPR);

(B) A notice of "prima facie" approval of a pending self-petition under the violence against women act (VAWA); or

(ii) Children of an abused spouse do not need their own separate pending or approved petition, but are included in their parent's petition if it was filed before they turned 21 years old. Children of abused persons who meet the conditions in this section retain their "qualified alien" status even after they turn 21 years old.

(f) Individuals who have been granted parole into the U.S. for at least a period of one year (or indefinitely) under INA §212 (d)(5), including "public interest" parolees.

(g) Individuals granted withholding of deportation or removal under INA §243(h) or §241 (b)(3).

(h) Individuals who were admitted to the U.S. as conditional entrants under INA §203 (a)(7) prior to April 1, 1980.

(i) Amerasians who were born to U.S. citizen armed services members in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

(3) "Nonqualified aliens" are noncitizens who are lawfully present in the U.S. and who are not included in the definition of qualified aliens in subsection (1) of this section. Nonqualified aliens include but are not limited to:

(a) Citizens of Marshall Islands, Micronesia, or Palau;

(b) Immigrants paroled into the U.S. for less than one year;

(d) Nonimmigrants who are allowed entry into the U.S. for a specific purpose usually for a limited time are also nonqualified. Examples include:

(i) Business visitors;

(ii) Students; and

(iii) Tourists.

(4) "Survivors of certain crimes" are noncitizens, and any of their qualifying family members, as defined in subsection (5) of this section, who have:

(a) Filed or are preparing to file an application for a T visa (trafficking victim);

(b) Filed or are preparing to file an application for a U visa (crime victim); or

(i) Was granted continued presence by U.S. Homeland Security; or

(ii) Has filed or is preparing to file an application for asylum status.

Specific crimes include:

(A) Those related to human trafficking, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, custodial interference, luring, trafficking, coercion of involuntary servitude, and others under chapter 9A.40 RCW;

(B) Sexual exploitation of children and others under chapter 9.68A RCW; or

(5) "Qualifying family members" are the spouse and child(ren) of survivors of certain crimes, and the parents or unmarried minor siblings if the survivor is under 21 years old. Qualifying family members do not include a person charged with or convicted of attempt, conspiracy, solicitation, or commission of a crime, listed under subsection (4)(c) of this section, against the survivor of certain crimes.

(6) "Undocumented aliens" are noncitizens without a lawful immigration status as defined in subsections (2) or (3) of this section, and who:

(a) Entered the U.S. illegally; or

(b) Were lawfully admitted but whose status expired or was revoked per United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

(7) "U.S. citizens" are one of the following:

(a) Individuals born in the United States or its territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands; also residents of the Northern Mariana Islands who elected to become U.S. citizens).

(b) American Indians born outside the U.S. without regard to immigration status or date of entry if:

(i) They were born in Canada and are 50 percent American Indian blood (but need not belong to a federally recognized tribe); or

(ii) They are members of a federally recognized Indian tribe or Alaskan Native village or corporation.

(d) Individuals born abroad to at least one U.S. citizen parent depending on conditions at the time of their birth, per title 8, subchapter III, section 1401 of the United States Code.

(e) Individuals who turn 18 years of age on or after February 27, 2001, automatically become U.S. citizens if the following conditions are met while the individual is under age 18 per INA 320.

(i) The individual is granted lawful permanent resident (LPR) status;

(ii) At least one of the individual's parents is a U.S. citizen by birth or naturalization; and

(iii) The individual:

(A) Resides in the U.S. in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent; or

(B) Was adopted according to the requirements of INA 101 and resides in the U.S. in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent.

(f) Individuals, who turned 18 before February 27, 2001, would have automatically became a citizen if, while still under 18, they became a lawful permanent resident and both of their parents were naturalized. Such individuals also may have derived citizenship when only one parent naturalized, if the other parent was dead or a U.S. citizen by birth, or the individual's parents were separated and the naturalized parent had custody.

(8) "U.S. nationals" are persons who owe permanent allegiance to the U.S. and may enter and work in the U.S. without restriction. The following are the only persons classified as U.S. nationals:

(a) Persons born in American Samoa or Swain's Island after December 24, 1952; and

(b) Residents of the Northern Mariana Islands who did not elect to become U.S. citizens.

PDFWAC 388-424-0001

Citizenship and immigration status—Definitions.