305.09 Determining Qualified Alien Status (FAM)

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To be eligible, noncitizens must first be qualified aliens.

A qualified alien is an individual who, at the time the individual applies for, receives, or attempts to receive assistance, is a(n):

 • lawfully admitted permanent resident under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA);

 • asylee granted such status under section 208 of the INA;

 • refugee admitted to the U.S. under section 207 of the INA;

 • noncitizen whose deportation is being withheld under section 243(h) of the INA (Note: after April 1, 1997, withholding of deportation is under section 241(b)(3));

 • parolee paroled into the U.S. under section 212(d)(5) of the INA for a period of at least 1 year;

 • conditional entrant into the U.S. under section 203(a)(7) of the INA as in effect prior to April 1, 1980;

 • Cuban or Haitian entrant under section 501(e) of the Refugee Education Assistance Act;

 • Amerasian immigrant under section 584 of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 1988 (usually the children of Vietnamese women and Americans present in Vietnam during the Vietnam War era);

 • noncitizen who is or has been a victim of family/domestic violence while residing in the U.S. by that person’s spouse, or by another member of the spouse’s family residing in the same household as the parent and the spouse acquiesced or consented to such battery or cruelty; or the noncitizen child of a parent subjected to family/domestic violence; or

 • veteran or active in military service, including noncitizens on active military duty in the Armed Forces of the U.S., honorably discharged veterans who have met the minimum active duty commitment (24 months or the time period for which they were called to active duty), and their spouses or unremarried surviving spouses (if the individual is deceased), unmarried dependent children under 18 years of age, and, for medical assistance only, Philippine nationals who served in the Philippine Commonwealth Army during WWII or as Philippine Scouts following WWII.

• MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY ONLY: COFA Migrants:  A citizen of the Freely Associated (COFA) States of: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.

All other noncitizens are ineligible for financial assistance regardless of date of entry into the U.S. or INS status.

References: He-W 601.01, He-W 601.05, He-W 606.02, He-W 616.02, 8 CFR 1.2, 8 CFR 101.1, 8 CFR 215.1(a), 45 CFR 233.50, 20 CFR 618.876, 8 USC 1158, 8 USC 1255, 8 USC 1611-1613, 8 USC 1641