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Combined Manual

Combined Manual


VERIFICATIONS - ACCEPTABLE IMMIGRATION DOCUMENTS

ISSUE DATE: 02/2025

Responsibilities of people applying for assistance

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To report on the Combined Application Form (CAF) if they are a naturalized or derived citizen, or a non-citizen.

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To provide immigration documents as evidence of the immigration status for each person who is an eligible mandatory unit member and who is applying for benefits.

To determine household composition for MFIP, DWP, MSA, GA, GRH, or RCA,

See 0014.03.03 (Determining the Cash Assistance Unit), and for or SNAP,

See 0014.03.06 (Determining the SNAP Unit).

Do not approve benefits until acceptable immigration documentation is provided.

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The exception is Expedited SNAP: if the person applying has made all reasonable efforts to obtain immigration documents but has not been successful within the timeframes for processing Expedited SNAP:

  • Approve the Expedited SNAP benefits.
  • Postpone the immigration status verification.

For general procedures for processing Expedited SNAP, see 0004.04 (Expedited SNAP), TEMP Manual TE02.10.01 (Expedited SNAP W/Postponed Verifs).

Acceptable Immigration Documents

Acceptable documentation means a valid United States immigration document that includes:

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The person’s full name,

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Date of birth, and

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A numeric identifier (such as an A#)

 

AND

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Is not expired.

 

--OR—

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Is expired or has no expiration date and appears on the list below.

Special Considerations

If a person submits an Immigration Court Document or Order, submit a PolicyQuest. See 0031.36 (Immigration Court Orders).

If a person who is a First Nations Canadian only submits a tribal enrollment card, submit a Policy Question. The tribal enrollment card may not contain the information that is required to run a SAVE report. See 0031.15 (American Indians Born in Canada who are Members of a Federally-Recognized American Indian Tribe).

A USCIS Application Support Center (ASC) biometric appointment notice is considered acceptable immigration documentation and can be used to run SAVE only when the following are met:

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The person has reported being an asylum applicant.

 

AND

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The biometric appointment notice indicates the person has already applied for asylum (i.e., the case type indicated on the form mentions “I-589 – APPLICATION FOR ASYLUM AND FOR WITHHOLDING OF REMOVAL”).

All other biometric appointment notices are not acceptable immigration documentation for benefits.

The following documents can be accepted if there is an expiration date or no date on the document:

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Asylum grant letter.

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Lawful Permanent Residence Card (green card).

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Trafficking Certificates. See 0031.01.21 (Trafficking Victims).

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Asylum Applicant Acknowledgement of Receipt Notice.

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Parole documents for a Cuban/Haitian Entrant.

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Naturalization Certificates and Certificates of Citizenship.

Always check the SAVE alerts to see if USCIS has automatically extended any immigration documents. USCIS often automatically extends Employment Authorization Documents.

SAVE users should review the SAVE homepage for USCIS updates and alerts, including immigration document extensions and other critical updates.

Once SAVE has been run on one of these documents, SAVE should not be run again until the person reports an immigration status change because either:

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The immigration status/classification granted by these documents does not expire within a certain amount of time, or

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The document may expire but the person’s status does not expire.

Immigration documents vary greatly in appearance.

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Do not require the person to present a particular immigration document, even if what is provided is unfamiliar.

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Workers who have questions about an immigration document should submit a policy question with a copy of the immigration document and the SAVE report.

If a person does not have acceptable immigration documentation, they are ineligible.

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Refer the person to the United States Citizenship Information Services to obtain evidence of their immigration status by providing the person with the SAVE Records Fast Facts for Benefit Applications document from SAVE for information on how to obtain, correct, renew, or replace immigration document(s).

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PREVIOUS REVISIONS

DateNotes
05/2024 New section: Explains what to look for on a document to make sure that it is a federal immigration document that is permissible to use to run SAVE.

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