Each household member identified as an alien must provide documentation that he meets one of the criteria in FSC 1621 and may therefore participate in the Food Stamp Program if otherwise eligible. To determine alien status the household must present documents.as specified;below.

Aliens listed in items #1 and 2 of FSC 1620 must present an 1-151 or 1-551, "Alien Registration Receipt Card" or the "Re-entry Permit," or other documents which identify the alien's immigration status. If an alien presents an 1-551, the worker must determine if the alien was admitted under Section 101(a)(20) for permanent residence. If the alien was admitted under Section 101(a) (20) for permanent residence, the worker must determine if it was pursuant to Section 245A. The 1-551 will be coded to indicate 245A, but it will not show "245A". The 245A class codes on the 1-551 are W-16,

W-26 or W-36. These codes are used only for 245A. If an alien was admitted under 245A, the alien is ineligible for food stamps until 1992 unless the alien is aged, blind or disabled as defined in Section 1614 (a)(1) of the Social Security Act. The worker is responsible for making the determination of as to whether the alien is aged, blind or disabled. Verification of disability is not required unless the disability is questionable.

If an alien has documentation showing that he was admitted in accordance with Section 210 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the alien is eligible. Beginning December 1989, group one special agricultural workers (SAWs), admitted under Section 210 will be given a code S-16 on the Form 551. Beginning in December 1990, group two SAWs admitted under Section 210 will be given Code

S-26 on the Form 551.

An 1-551 with a two-year expiration date indicates the alien is married to a U.S. citizen. The alien is given permanent residence status for two years and may participate in the Food Stamp Program during this two-year period if otherwise eligible. If the alien is still married to the citizen at the end of the two-year period, the alien is given indefinite permanent alien status.

Aliens listed in items #3 through 6 of FSC 1620 must present an

1-94, "Arrival-Departure Record", or other documents that are reasonable evidence of the alien's immigration status. If the form is annotated with section 207, 208, 212(d)(5) or 243(h), of the Immigration and Nationality Act or if the form is annotated with any one of the following terms or combination of the following terms: Refugee, parolee, or asylum. If the INS Form 1-94 is annotated with any one of letters (A) through (L). then the alien will be ineligible, unless other documentation is provided to prove that the alien is classified as an eligible alien.

If the 1-94 does not contain any of the above annotations and the alien has no other verification of alien classification, the worker will advise the alien to submit form ~-641, Application for Verification of Information from Immigration and Naturalization~ion Service Records, to INS.

An alien who presents a G-641 that has been properly annotated by an INS representative to show that the alien has been lawfully admitted for permanent residence or parole for humanitarian reasons will be considered to be an eligible alien.

Aliens listed in items 7 through 10 of FSC 1620 must present documentation such as, but not limited to, a letter, notice of eligibility, or identification card which clearly identifies that the alien has been granted legal status in one of categories discussed in items 7-10 above.

Amnesty aliens, as listed in item 11, must present an 1-688, "Temporary Resident Card", coded to show the alien was admitted under Section 210 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act. If so, the alien may be eligible until the expiration date stated on the face of the document. If the 1-688 is coded to show that the alien was admitted under Section 245A of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, the alien is ineligible.

Aliens with an I-688B, "Employment Authorization Card", may or may not be eligible to have their food stamp eligibility considered. I-688B cards have a number of possible codings and only some of these codings denote eligible alien status. The alien will be considered ineligible unless verification of legal alien status is obtained through the SAVE System. An 1-688, an I-688A, or an 1- 688B which is not encoded with the section number under which the alien was admitted may not be used as verification of legal alien status.

"Employment Authorization Cards" such as I-688A and 1-689 show only that an alien has applied for admission. They are not acceptable documents to show that a person has been admitted under an eligible section. In addition, Form 1-181-B cannot be used as acceptable verification of legal alien status. In general, it is best not to use any "Employment Authorization Card" as sufficient verification of eligibility for food stamp purposes.

The following chart specifies the type of documentation the alien may usually present as documentation of legal alien status.

If INS documentation as shown in the chart is not available, the alien may state the reason for lack of this documentation and submit other conclusive evidence of legal alien status. The reason declared by the alien that the required INS form is not available must be documented In the case record. An example of conclusive evidence is a copy of a court order stating that deportation has been.withheld under Section.243(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Receipt of a Social Security Number does not establish citizenship.

If an alien is unable to provide an INS document that clearly indicates either eligible or ineligible alien status, the caseworker must offer to contact INS to obtain the needed information. If the alien does not provide an INS document the worker does not have to offer to contact INS. However, when a Non-INS document is accepted as reasonable evidence of the alien's immigration status a photocopy of the document will be sent to INS for verification. The alien's written consent is not needed to transmit the photocopy to INS. The alien's citizenship status will be based upon the Non-INS document while awaiting verification from INS.

Reasonable acceptable documents must include the alien's name, alien registration or I.D. number.

If no documentation of eligible alien status is provided during the normal processing period, or if the documentation provided is questionable, the alien will be considered ineligible until acceptable documentation is provided. Eligibility may be determined for any remaining household members as instructed in FSC 1621.3.

Verification of alien status is accomplished through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program. When an alien provides either INS or Non-INS documentation on his/her legal alien status, the worker must verify such status by accessing the Alien Status Verification Index (ASVI). If verification cannot be obtained from the ASVI then a secondary method will be used.