Benefits Not Subject to Public Charge Consideration
(Published by the Immigration and Naturalization Service 05/25/99)
Non-cash benefits and special-purpose cash benefits that are not intended for income maintenance are not subject to public charge consideration. Such benefits include:
- Medicaid,
- Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP),
- Food Stamps,
- the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC),
- immunizations,
- prenatal care,
- testing and treatment of communicable diseases,
- emergency medical assistance,
- emergency disaster relief,
- nutrition programs,
- housing assistance,
- energy assistance,
- child care services,
- foster care and adoption assistance,
- transportation vouchers,
- educational assistance,
- job training programs,
- and non-cash benefits funded under the TANF program.
Some of the above programs may provide cash benefits, such as energy assistance, transportation or child care benefits provided in cash under TANF or the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG), and one-time emergency payments under TANF.
Since the purpose of such benefits is not for income maintenance, but rather to avoid the need for on-going cash assistance for income maintenance, they are not subject to public charge consideration.
