CalWORKs Policy - Department of Public Social Services

I-551 with
W16, W26,
W36
No – Must review
admission
adjustment date on
back of card; if
adjustment on or
after 12/1/87, the
non-citizen is cash
eligible on the 5 th
anniversary of the
adjustment date
What is the Systematic Alien Verification for
Entitlements (SAVE) system?
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
(IRCA-86) mandated that the immigration status
of each non-citizen applicant/participant be
verified with USCIS. USCIS has designated
SAVE as the system that will verify each noncitizen’s
immigration status. Although SAVE
verifies immigration status, the responsibility for
determining eligibility for CalWORKs remains with
the county.
SAVE is a sharing program consisting of an
automated (primary) and a manual (secondary)
verification system.
The primary system is used to verify the
immigration status of non-citizens who have an
alien registration number (“A” number or “A”
series number). If the primary verification
response does not state that the non-citizen is in
Satisfactory Immigration Status (SIS), then
secondary verification is mandated.
The secondary system is a manual system for
verifying registration numbers and non-citizen
information. In addition to primary verification, a
secondary is required when the following occurs:
• The SAVE primary response is “Institute
Secondary Verification.”
• The USCIS documentation does not contain
“A” number.
• There are unacceptable discrepancies
between the primary response and the
USCIS documentation presented by the
applicant.
• The original USCIS documentation appears
to be altered or counterfeit.