General Eligibility Requirements

A refugee is any person:

Individuals with the following status are eligible for assistance or services under the Office of Refugee Services (ORS) provided that other eligibility requirements are met:

The definition for an entrant differs from that of a refugee. Refugees are processed, screened and admitted to the United States from outside its borders under annual quota limitations. An entrant, however, is an individual from only Cuba or Haiti who arrived in the United States without having undergone normal refugee-type departure proceedings and whose legal status has yet to be determined by the USCIS.

Individuals with entrant statuses are eligible for assistance and service under the ORS – provided that all other eligibility requirements are met.

An entrant is:

Certain Vietnamese Amerasians, and those who are authorized to accompany them, who enter the United States with immigrant or citizenship status are eligible for refugee cash assistance, medical assistance, and support services under the ORS. An Amerasian is an alien who was born in Vietnam after January 1, 1962, and before January 1, 1976, and who was fathered by a citizen of the United States. The Amerasian Homecoming Act (P.L. 100-202) provides that Amerasians and their close family members departing Vietnam may be admitted to the U.S. as immigrants but will be eligible to receive refugee benefits. Amendment 84 of the Foreign Federal Fiscal Year 1989 permits Amerasians to be admitted as U.S. citizens if paternity has been established. They are also eligible for refugee benefits.

Amerasians and those who are authorized to accompany them possess passports or I-94 documents initially. For those who are being admitted as immigrants, the passport or I-94 is stamped with the words “Processed for I-551. Temporary Evidence of Lawful Admission for Permanent Residence.” The class code is AM-1, AM-2, or AM-3. The alien number begins with A4. Approximately one month after arrival Amerasians and those who accompany them receive I 551 documents. The class code is the same as on the passport. The class and alien number codes – AM-6, AM-7, and AM-8 – are used for individuals who have their status changed to “Amerasian Immigrant” after arrival in the United States.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 states that the term “severe forms of trafficking in persons” means:

Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) State Letter #01-13 dated May 2001 states “An alien who is a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons shall be eligible for benefits and services under any Federal or State program or activity funded or administered by any [Federal agency] to the same extent as an alien who is admitted to the United States as a refugee under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.”

The eligibility case manager must see a letter issued by ORR verifying that the person is a victim of human trafficking with a tracking number. The date of the certification letter is the first month of eligibility for RCA/RMA (rather than the date of entry which is normally used as the first month of eligibility for refugees.) The first certification letters that were issued had expiration dates, but these human trafficking victims should have received new certification without expiration dates (expiration dates are no longer being used), as explained in ORR State Letter #02-01 dated January 2002. If an individual presents an expired certification letter when applying for benefits or an agency attempts to do a benefits program re-determination and finds that a certification letter has expired, the agency should call the ORR trafficking verification line at (202) 401-5510 for assistance. The case should not be denied before contacting ORR, as ORR may only need the client’s current address to send out a recertification letter.

An alien who has been granted asylum in the United States; however, an applicant for asylum (that is, a person who has applied for but has not been granted asylum) is ineligible for assistance.

A person from Afghanistan or Iraq arriving in the United States after employment with the United States Military or United States based agency in Afghanistan or Iraq. ORR State Letter # 08-04, # 08-06, # 09-02, and # 1917 partially superseded, stated: Afghan and Iraqi Special immigrants are now eligible for ORR benefits and services to the same extent and for the same time period as a Refugee.

An Afghan or Iraqi national who possesses an Afghan or Iraqi Passport which is stamped “SQ1-8” or “SI1-3, 6-8” and a self-adhesive Visa sticker with annotation Section 212(g)(2)(A) and identifying visa issuing United States Embassy post. Or an I-551 that identifies the person as a resident alien and indicates that he/she was admitted as a Special Immigrant from Afghanistan or Iraq with Category codes beginning with SQ or SI (the sequence of the number correspond to the relationship of the individual in the family).

Photocopies of the passport, USCIS Form I-94, I-551, I-151, Asylum Certification Letter, Cuban/Haitians entrants and immigration documents or ORR Certification Letter for victims of trafficking must be retained in the case record. If copies cannot be made of these forms, the following information from the forms should be noted in the case record:

The following is a list of most of the USCIS codes that indicate an alien formerly had refugee or entrant status. See Section 150 for a more complete list. These codes appear on the I-151 or I-551 carried by permanent resident aliens. The groups as well as the governing legislation are as follows:

In view of the unique documentation difficulties encountered in establishing eligibility for RCA and RMA for refugee, asylee, Cuban parolee/Haitian entrant, Amerasian, and trafficking victim cases, the following guidelines are recommended:

In RCA and RMA “residence” refers to the residence of the applicant or recipient. The applicant/recipient for RCA or RMA at the time of application or redetermination of eligibility must live in the state voluntarily with the intention of making his/her home theirs and not for a temporary purpose. He/she cannot be a current recipient of assistance from another state. Georgia residence is terminated when the applicant/recipient no longer lives in the state. The applicant’s statement is acceptable evidence of residence unless there is reason to question it. If verification is required, acceptable resources include: the eligibility case manager’s observation during a home visit, rent or utility company receipts, the sponsor or resettlement agency, or the written sworn statement of a responsible reference.

Each refugee who applies for a SSN may be issued a Form SSA-5028 showing the individual’s name and the date of application. If the individual does not have an SSN, the state or local agency shall accept Form SSA-5028 as proof that the individual has applied for the SSN. Assistance or services to an otherwise eligible refugee or entrant shall not be denied, delayed, or discontinued pending issuance or verification of the individual’s SSN by SSA.

As part of the regular process of determining or redetermining a refugee’s eligibility for cash or medical assistance, the eligibility case manager must contact the resettlement agency. If there is a sponsor, that person also must be contacted. Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) Form 160 is sent to the appropriate sponsor and resettlement agency at the time of initial applications and redeterminations. The form indicates the following:

This inquiry should enable the county department to obtain sufficient information to determine the individual’s eligibility for cash or medical assistance. The information obtained from the sponsor or resettlement agency should be filed in the case record. A telephone contact with the sponsor and resettlement agency by the eligibility case manager, in the absence of Form 160 or a personal contact, is sufficient to fulfill the verification requirement. The questions asked should be the same as those on Form 160. This must be documented in the case record. Where there is an emergency need for financial or medical assistance in instances in which it is not possible to reach the sponsor and resettlement agency, the requirement of verification with the sponsor and resettlement agency may be temporarily waived in order to meet the emergency.

Newly arrived refugees may be receiving cash assistance under a matching grant program with a resettlement agency. The matching grants cover generally the same range of cash and medical assistance available under ORS. These grants are separate and distinct from the one-time per capita grants that the Department of State (DOS) makes to resettlement agency for the receptions and initial placement of newly arriving refugees. If a refugee who might be covered by a matching grant applies to DFCS for RCA or RMA the eligibility case manager shall verify with the refugee’s sponsor or resettlement agency whether the refugee is receiving such assistance. If assistance is being provided, the application for RCA shall be denied and the entire amount shall be counted as unearned income and used in determining eligibility for SNAP, Low Income Medicaid (LIM) or RMA.

Requirements of categorical relatedness for financial assistance, medical assistance, and support services are waived for RCA and RMA. This enables assistance and services to be provided on the basis of need, without regard to family composition or the presence of children. Single adults, two parent families and childless couples are thus eligible with the application of the waiver.

Some refugee families may include one or more children who are U.S. citizens by virtue of having been born in this country. These children may be eligible for Refugee Cash Assistance, Refugee Medical Assistance and Refugee Support Services (RSS) only if both parents in the home are refugees or the parent in a single parent home is a refugee within the 12-month eligibility period.

Refugees, Asylees, Cuban parolees/Haitian entrants, Amerasians, Afghan and Iraqi Special Immigrant, Afghan Humanitarian Parolee, Ukrainian Humanitarian Parolee, and victims of human trafficking with an entry date prior to October 1st, 2021, are eligible for RCA and RMA for eight (8) months only. Refugees, Asylees, Cuban parolees/Haitian entrants, Amerasians, Afghan and Iraqi Special Immigrant; and victims of human trafficking with an entry date on or after October 1^st, 2021, are eligible for RCA and RMA for twelve (12) months only. For refugees, Amerasians, Afghan and Iraqi Special Immigrants, Afghan Humanitarian Parolee, Ukrainian Humanitarian Parolee, the eight or twelve-month eligibility period begins with the month they entered the United States. For entrants the eight or twelve-month period begins with the month they were paroled into the United States as shown on Form I-94. For asylees, the date asylum is granted is the first month of eligibility. The date of certification is the first month of eligibility for victims of human trafficking. The entire month is counted as the first month of eligibility. Certain children who were born in the United States of refugee parents that are currently eligible for RCA and RMA even though they are United States citizens (See section 110). If eligible the children can qualify for up to 12 months of eligibility from their date of birth.

As a condition of eligibility for both RCA and RMA, an employable applicant shall not, without good cause, within 30 consecutive calendar days immediately prior to the application for assistance, have voluntarily quit employment or have refused to apply for or accept an offer of appropriate employment. The dependent family of such an ineligible applicant may, however, apply for and receive RCA and/or RMA.

A refugee is not eligible for RCA or RMA if he or she is under a period of sanction for having failed or refused to participate in the employability requirements of employment, training, and ESL requirements for employable RCA recipients. However, the dependent family members of an ineligible individual may apply for and receive RCA and/or RMA.

A refugee who is a full-time student pursuing academic studies in an institution of higher education is not eligible for RCA or RMA. (See Section B1 for definition of Institution of Higher Education.) However, a refugee may attend an institution of higher education and receive RCA if the course of study is appropriate job-related training approved under an individual employability plan. Full-time is defined as: