Food Stamps & Immigrant Rights

WILL RECEIVING PUBLIC BENEFITS HURT MY
CHANCES OF BECOMING A CITIZEN?

NO. Immigration law does not deny citizenship to legal immigrants who are receiving public benefits for which they are eligible.

Receiving public benefits endangers your citizenship application only if:

• You lied about your eligibility in order to receive the benefits (such as not reporting your entire income, misrepresenting the size of your family, or lying about your immigration status), or
  
• When applying for legal residence, you lied about a disability or some other barrier to your economic independence which later caused you to depend primarily on cash assistance such as Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Medicaid for long-term nursing home care. This can also endanger your legal status
  

If you are eligible, you can apply for and receive food stamps, Medicaid, KidCare, SSI, TANF, Illinois Immigrant Food Benefits, Illinois Domestic Violence Assistance, AABD and any other federal, state, or local public benefit, without jeopardizing the status of your citizenship application.

WILL RECEIVING PUBLIC BENEFITS HURT MY CHANCES OF
BECOMING A LEGAL PERMANENT RESIDENT (LPR)?

ONLY IF YOU ARE DEPENDING ON CASH ASSISTANCE TO SURVIVE. Immigration law may deny legal residence to an applicant who would become “public charge.” A “public charge” is a person who cannot support him or herself and cannot prove that a family member will take that responsibility.

According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), you are only a “public charge” if:

• You depend on a family member’s cash benefits (such as TANF or SSI) to survive; or
• You depend on cash assistance to survive or are supported by Medicaid to live in a long-term nursing home within your first five years as a legal permanent resident, but only in certain circumstances.
  

The INS has stated that you will not be considered a “public charge” because:

• You are working but receiving Medicaid or KidCare and/or Food Stamps for your U.S. citizen children;
• Your U.S. citizen or LPR dependents have depended primarily on public benefits in the past, but you are now working and can support them and yourself;
• You have received a temporary medical card for prenatal care and delivery.
  

Public education, child care and counseling, vaccinations, WIC, emergency food and shelter and other services in your community are not public benefits, and should be available to anyone who needs them.