Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

Helping Immigrant Victims Access Federal and State Public Benefits 357
five year bar). 3 In addition, since December of 1997, relatives who sponsor
immigrants to come to the US must file legally enforceable affidavits of
support. These affidavits advise the sponsors that they may be required to
reimburse a state or local social services agency for the benefits provided by the
agency to the sponsored immigrant. The period of sponsor liability runs from
the time the immigrant is granted permanent residence status until he or she
becomes a citizen or can be credited with a substantial work record under the
Social Security Act (40 qualifying quarters). 4
Restrictions on the access of elderly or disabled immigrants to the SSI
program are particularly severe. SSI benefits are virtually unavailable to
immigrants who arrive in the United States after August of 1996 unless they
become citizens or can be credited with 40 qualifying work quarters. 5 One
exception is the humanitarian-based immigrant category. 6 However, even these
immigrants are only eligible for SSI within the first seven years. To continue to
receive SSI after the first seven years, they must have naturalized or accumulated
a significant work history.
For other federal means-tested programs — food stamps, cash assistance,
and medical assistance — those in a qualified immigrant status who entered the
country after August of 1996 must generally wait five years before becoming
eligible for benefits. Immigrants in the humanitarian-based categories are
exempt from the five year bar. In addition, qualified immigrants who are under
eighteen years old or who are disabled are exempt from the five year bar in the
food stamp program.
In New York State, with the exception of the federal food stamp program
for which there is no longer a state replacement program, the five year bar in the
federal means-tested programs has minimal effect because there is no such bar
in the state-funded welfare assistance program, the Safety Net program, and the
state-funded Medicaid program. 7
The “Battered Qualified Immigrant” Eligibility Category
PRWORA created a special immigrant-eligibility category for spouses and
children of US citizens and lawful permanent residents who have been “battered
or subjected to extreme cruelty.” Unlike most other immigrants, they are not
required to attain permanent resident status before becoming eligible for benefits.
Instead, they are eligible for benefits as soon as they are in the process of
obtaining permanent status on their own behalf. The ability of immigrant victims