(Revised 6/1/05 ML 2971)
Citizenship or immigration status affects eligibility. United States citizens are always eligible if they meet other eligibility criteria. U.S. citizens include anyone born in:
The 50 states
District of Columbia
Guam
Virgin Islands
Puerto Rico
The Northern Mariana Islands
The Marshall Islands
American Samoa
Swain’s Island
A foreign country who is:
under 18 years of age, and
admitted to the US as a lawful permanent resident; and
in the legal and physical custody of at least one parent who is a US citizen.
This also applies to children adopted from a foreign country as long as the three conditions above are met.
American Indiana if born in Canada and who possesses at least 50 percent of blood of the American Indian race to whom the provisions of section 289 of the INA apply or a member of an Indian tribe as defined in section 4(e) of the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(3) which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided to the United States Indians because of their status as Indians.
Qualified Aliens, except for the following groups, are not eligible for North Dakota's TANF program:
An alien admitted to the United States as a refugee under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (ACT);
An alien is granted asylum under section 208 of the Act;
An alien's deportation is withheld under section 243(h) or section 241(b)(3) of the Act; or
An alien is granted status as a Cuban and Haitian entrant (as defined in section 501(e) of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980).
The above groups are eligible for TANF benefits for five years after the date of entry into the United States or the date Asylum or Withholding of Deportation was granted.
The following groups are always eligible for TANF is all other conditions of eligibility are met:
An alien admitted to the United States as an Amerasian immigrant;
Legal permanent residents who are forty qualifying quarters after December 31, 1996 and have not received any Federal TANF benefits during period; or
Veterans, members of the military on activity duty, and their spouses and unmarried dependent children.
Legal permanent residents who have worked forty qualifying quarters, veterans, members of the military in active duty, and their souses and unmarried dependent children are eligibility for TANF if all other conditions of eligibility are met.
Military Criteria
Aliens may meet eligibility criteria if they have a past or current involvement with the United States Armed Forces and are lawfully admitted to the U.S. under INS status. Spouses and unmarried dependent children of an individual with past or current U.S. military involvement may also meet eligibility criteria.
Individuals with the following INS status may be eligible based on military criteria:
Refugees after five (5) years of U.S. residency.
Asylees after five (5) years of U.S. residency.
Entrants whose deportation is being withheld after seven years of U.S. residency.
Cuban or Haitian entrants after five (5) years of U.S. residency.
Amerasians after five (5) years of U.S. residency.
Lawful permanent residents (LPR).
Battered women and/or children.
Conditional entrants.
Parolees.
Past or Current U.S. Military Involvement is defined as:
An individual on active duty for reasons other than training with any of the United States Armed Forces units. This applies to minimum active duty (24 months) or the period for which the person was called to active duty.
(1) An individual remains eligible if honorably discharged for reasons other than alien status who fulfills the minimum active duty service requirement including an individual who died in active military, naval or air service.
This includes an individual who served before July 1, 1946, in the organized military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines while such forces were in the service of the Armed Forces of the U.S. or in the Philippine Scouts.
(2) If active duty is for training such as National Guard or Army Reserve, the individual is not eligible.
An individual honorably discharged from the U.S. Armed Forces. If the discharge was for alien status or for dishonorable service, the individual is not eligible.
A Spouse or Unmarried Dependent Children of individual with U.S. Military Involvement:
An individual must be married to the veteran/service individual or was married to the individual at the time of the individual's death and has not remarried.
Eligibility for the unremarried surviving spouse of a deceased veteran provided that the couple was married for at least one year or for any period if a child was born of the marriage or was born to the veteran and the spouse before the marriage and the spouse has not remarried.
(1) An individual would not be eligible if divorced from the veteran/service individual or has remarried since the veteran/service individual's death.
(2) Eligibility exists for the alien spouse regardless of whether or not the veteran/service individual is a United States citizen.
(3) Eligibility stops if the service individual is discharged from active duty for alien status or dishonorable service.
Unmarried dependent child(ren) of the veteran/service individual are eligible if they are:
(1) A legally adopted or biological dependent child of an honorably discharged veteran or active duty member of the Armed Forces if the child is under the age of 18 or a full-time student under the age of 22.
(2) A child under ages 18 or 22 if a fulltime student of a deceased veteran.
(3) A disabled child age 18 or older if the child was disabled and dependent on the active duty member or veteran prior to the child’s 18th birthday.
(4) A child that is not residing with the veteran/service individual.
(5) A child that marries, is no longer a dependent, or the service individual is discharged from active duty for alien status or dishonorable service.
Establishing Quarters
Qualifying quarters of coverage are determined by using the amount of earnings received by an individual (or their spouse or parents) for employment or self-employment income on which Social Security taxes must be paid. Individuals are credited a maximum of four quarters per year by the Social Security Administration. If an alien earns the 40 quarters of coverage prior to applying for TANF in that same quarter, the worker must allow that quarter toward the 40 qualifying quarters total.
Qualifying quarters of work not covered by Title II of the Social Security Act may be credited in determining eligibility. The mechanism used by Social Security Administration for calculating the amount of wages necessary to obtain a quarter of coverage is used, not the limitations on the types of employment in which the wages may be earned.
An alien must have earned 40 quarters of credit unless their spouse or parents can share quarters with them. Once the alien is credited with 40 qualifying quarters, non-citizen eligibility requirements have been met even though the individual is no longer employed.
Any quarters earned from January 1997 and later must not be credited to an individual who received TANF, Food Stamps, Medicaid, or SSI (this includes benefits received in another state) in any month during that quarter. The worker must evaluate quarters of coverage and receipt of Federal means-tested programs on a calendar year basis.
Spousal Quarters
Spousal quarters of work earned by each spouse during his or her marriage, separation, or while holding themselves out to the community as husband and wife can be credited to each other. Quarters earned prior to the marriage cannot be credited. Quarters from a deceased spouse are credited to the surviving spouse. Qualifying quarters may be credited to a non-citizen spouse even if the individual employed is a United States citizen. The only time quarters are removed is if an individual received quarters from a spouse and they divorced or no longer hold themselves out to the community as husband and wife.
Parents/Children Quarters
The quarters of income earned by a natural, adoptive or stepparent, including a deceased parent, are credited as follows:
Qualifying quarters earned by parent(s) are credited:
To children under age 18.
If earned prior to the child's birth.
Through the quarter the child turns 18.
Qualifying quarters credited to a child cannot be taken away unless parental rights are terminated.
Quarters earned by parents while a child was under age 18 are credited to a child no matter what age the child may be.
Qualifying quarters earned by adoptive parent(s) are credited as follows:
From the date the adoption occurred.
Through the quarter the child turns 18.
Quarters from the biological parent(s) are not allowed when the adoption becomes final.
Qualifying quarters earned by a stepparent are credited as follows:
From the quarter of the marriage of the stepparent as long as the marriage occurred before the child attained age 18.
Through the quarter the child turns age 18.
Are not credited if the 40-quarter determination is made after a divorce or annulment.
Quarters are credited if the natural or adoptive parent and stepparent are separated but not divorced.
If the 40-quarter determination is made prior to a divorce or annulment the quarters cannot be removed
A child can receive qualifying quarters from each parent as well as from themselves.
Quarters earned by children cannot be deemed to their parents or siblings.
The same quarter may be applied to more than one individual.
Qualifying quarters credited to children are retained when they turn 18.
Verification of 40 Quarters Requirement
The following procedures provide guidance to workers in administering the 40 quarters determination.
The applicant must provide the full name, social security number, date of birth, and sex of each individual (self, parent, or spouse) whose work history is relevant to the determination of eligibility.
Workers can access information needed to determine if an alien has the 40 qualifying quarters of work history through the SVES in TECS. The qualifying quarter’s information is obtained through the TPQY inquiry screens. The quarter of coverage information is displayed on the TPQ3 the next day and is not retained on TECS.
If an alien believes the information from Social Security Administration is inaccurate or incomplete, Social Security Administration will investigate the discrepancy. Depending on the problem, the worker may contact Social Security Administration directly or refer the applicant to Social Security Administration. If the applicant is referred to Social Security Administration, Social Security Administration will give the individual a document indicating the number of quarters under review. An alien who provides the worker with this document can continue to receive TANF benefits for six months from the date of Social Security Administration's initial response or until Social Security Administration has completed its review, whichever is earlier.
For wage matches, Social Security Administration will send the worker total quarters from 1930 through 1950 and information on quarters by year for 1951 through the most recent information. The most recent eight quarters may be missing from the information Social Security Administration provides. Social Security Administration will not investigate these quarters because they will be included in the course of the annual wage reporting operation. However, Social Security Administration will provide guidance on how to compute these quarters if the household needs them to meet the 40 qualifying quarters exemption. Social Security Administration will transmit, a quarter of coverage history display.
If the worker is unable to obtain the work history from Social Security Administration, the worker must obtain verification of work from the applicant or other available data sources.
The following individuals do not qualify for TANF, regardless of length of time spent in the United States:
Illegal or nonresident aliens;
Individuals admitted to the United States for educational purposes, including individuals residing in the United States under a student visa; or
Individuals admitted to the United States who are granted temporary employment authorization with INS card I-688B.