611.04 Exceptions to the Sponsor-to-Immigrant Deeming Principles (FSM)

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The following groups are not subject to sponsor-to-immigrant deeming:

• Immigrants whose sponsor has not signed a legally binding affidavit of support. This category includes those lawfully admitted permanent residents (LPRs) who became LPRs or whose sponsors signed affidavits of support before December 19, 1997.

• Immigrants without sponsors. Some aliens enter the country and do not have sponsors or are sponsored by an organization or group, so are not legally liable for the alien or subject to deeming requirements. Included in this group are refugees, asylees, individuals granted withholding of deportation, Amerasians, and Cuban or Haitian entrants.

• Immigrants under age 18. Sponsor-to-immigrant deeming principles do not apply to sponsored qualified aliens under age 18.

• Indigent Exception. An alien is considered indigent if the sum of the immigrant’s income and any financial or in-kind assistance provided by the sponsor is less than or equal to 130 percent of the poverty income guideline. Each indigence determination is effective for 12 months and during that 12 months, deeming from the sponsor does not apply. See also FSM 305.29, Reporting Illegal and Indigent Aliens.

• Battered Spouse or Child Exception. Deeming does not apply during any 12-month period if the alien is a battered spouse, battered child or parent, or child of a battered person providing the battered alien lives in a separate household from the person responsible for the battery. See also FSM 305.21, Documentation of BCIS Status.

• Sponsor in same food stamp household. If the sponsor lives in the same household as the alien, deeming does not apply because the sponsor’s income and resources are already counted. There is, however, no deeming exemption if the sponsor receives food stamps in another household.

• Ineligible Member. If the sponsored alien is ineligible for food stamps because of immigration status (i.e., not a qualified alien), the sponsor’s income is not deemed to other eligible members of the immigrant’s household