Important Revisions Are Made to OTDA’s Alien Eligibility Desk Guide

January 1, 2005

Author: Amy Schwartz

Advocates, particularly those working with immigrant victims of domestic violence, should be aware that, late last year, the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) issued a substantially revised "Alien Eligibility Desk Guide" (the "Guide"). The most significant change is the expansion of the list of immigration documents that prove an immigrant DV victim meets the conditions for being treated as a "qualified alien" for the purposes of public benefits eligibility. The new Guide is available at  http://www.otda.state.ny.us/main/directives/2004/ADM/LDSS_4579-12_04.pdf

The battered qualified immigrant documentation section in the new Guide was revised and expanded to:

• correctly cite the provisions of the immigration law related to classification of spouses and children of US citizens or lawful permanent residents as it appears on the I-797 Notice of an approved or pending family petition;
• include a reference to the I-94 Arrival/Departure Record and the codes that entitle an abused immigrant to be treated as a qualified immigrant, including K-3 and K-4 (spouse and child of US citizen) and V-! And V-2, (spouse or child of lawful permanent resident); and
• include a reference to the codes on an Employment Authorization card that indicate a qualifying immigration status, specifically (a)(9) or (a)(15).

The Victim of Trafficking codes were expanded to include codes T-3 through T-5 appearing in the immigration documents of individuals admitted as family members of a victim of trafficking.

Lastly, several corrections were made to conform the Guide to the Medicaid eligibility rules promulgated by the Department of Health several years ago in compliance with the the 2001 Court of Appeals decision in Aliessa (for example, the Medicaid eligibility of an individual paroled into the US – usually based on humanitarian grounds – was changed from "no" to" yes").