Iraqi and Afghan Citizens Entitled to Special Refugee Status
May 14, 2010
Effective December 19, 2009, the five year bar for food stamps, TANF, SSI and federal Medicaid eligibility no longer applies to Iraqi and Afghan citizens who entered the U.S. with Special Immigrant Visas rather than as refugees or asylees. Prior to this date, their eligibility for these federal means tested benefits had been limited to a period of eight months. Read More

SSA Issues Guidance for SSI Refugee Extension
July 1, 2009
On September 30, 2008, then President Bush signed the “SSI Extension for Elderly and Disabled Refugees Act” (“Extension Act,” Public Law 110-328). The legislation temporarily extends the eligibility of elderly and disabled refugees, asylees and various other groups of humanitarian based immigrants for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) from seven years to nine years. Read More

SSI Eligibility for Refugees and Other Humanitarian Based Immigrants
Extended from Seven to Nine Years
October 1, 2008
Under the "SSI Extension for Elderly and Disabled Refugees Act", H.R. 2608, the eligibility of refugees, asylees, victims of trafficking and other classifications of humanitarian immigrants for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits is now nine years rather than seven.  Read More

SSI Immigrant Struggle Continues
July 1, 2008
Many recent editions of this newsletter have chronicled the problems encountered by elderly and disabled immigrants who are ineligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) solely because of their immigration status. Read More

USCIS to Expedite the Naturalization and Adjustment Applications of SSI Recipients
February 1, 2008
A settlement has been reached in the case of Schmul Kaplan, et al., v. Michael Chertoff, filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which requires the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) to expedite the applications of refugees, asylees, and other humanitarian based immigrants for permanent residence or naturalization if the applicants are facing the cut-off of their Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits because they have come to the end of their period of SSI eligibility. Read More

The First Department Hands Elderly and Disabled Refugees a Welcome Victory
February 1, 2008
A better birthday surprise can hardly be imagined for an elderly refugee who fled anti-Semitism in Russia in the late 1990's and recently celebrated his 101st birthday than a ruling from the First Department that he and all other elderly and disabled, lawfully residing immigrants who are ineligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) solely because of their immigration status must be provided with public assistance by New York State at the SSI related standard of need set out in Social Services Law §209.2, rather than assistance at the significantly lower welfare standard. Read More