Know Your Rights

Public Benefits

I am a legal permanent resident. Am I eligible to receive Welfare and Medicaid?

Access to welfare and Medicaid depends both on the date you entered the United States and your work history. Most legal permanent residents are not eligible for food stamps and SSI. If you are a legal permanent resident and arrived before August 22, 1996, you are eligible for federal and state benefits, except food stamps. If you are a legal permanent resident and arrived after August 22, 1996, you are not eligible for welfare or Medicaid or for state welfare or Medicaid for five years unless you have worked for 40 quarters. Please consult an immigration or domestic violence advocate in your area.

I am a refugee. Am I eligible to receive Welfare and Medicaid?

In the first five years after they arrive in the United States, refugees are eligible for Food Stamps, Temporary Aid to Needy Families, Medicaid and other public benefit programs to the same extent as US Citizens. In Kentucky, refugees are eligible for state benefits for seven years after they arrive in the United States. Please consult an immigration or domestic violence advocate in your area.

I am undocumented. Am I eligible to receive Welfare and Medicaid?

If you are a battered, undocumented woman whose husband has applied for legal permanent residency on your behalf or if you have applied for permanent residency under the Violence Against Women Act, you are eligible for the same benefits as a legal permanent resident. If you are not eligible to apply for legal permanent residency, you will be ineligible for most forms of welfare. However, you are still eligible for emergency Medicaid. Pregnant women are eligible for medical care during pregnancy. Contact KCHIP at 1-800-KCHIP-18 (English) or l-800-662-5397 (Spanish). If you are pregnant, have just had a baby or are breastfeeding a baby, or have a child under the age of five, you may be eligible for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), regardless of immigration status. WIC provides nutrition education and services, breastfeeding promotion and education, monthly food prescription of nutritious foods and access to maternal, prenatal and pediatric health-care services. Contact your local health department for more information. In Jefferson County, call 502-574-6530. You are also eligible for services from community groups, such as food distribution by churches and assistance from domestic violence shelters.

Are my U.S. Citizen children eligible for Public Benefits and Medicaid?

YES. Even if you are undocumented, your US citizen children are eligible for public benefits just as other citizen children are. However, if you are undocumented, DO NOT reveal your immigration status when applying for benefits on behalf of your children, even if you are asked. The welfare office does not need to know what your status is in order to give benefits to your citizen children. The welfare officer must designate you as "ineligible" and ask you no further questions about your immigration status.

If an agency asks me for a Social Security Number or documents establishing my immigration status, how should I respond?

You are only required to give a social security number in certain situations. The benefits officer should tell you when it is mandatory and when it is voluntary, why the agency needs the number and what uses will be made of the number. The agency will only use social security numbers to help verify your income and they will not share your social security number with the INS.

If you are undocumented, you should not admit that you are undocumented, that you have an outstanding order of deportation or use false documents. Benefits agencies are only required to report to the INS persons who are "known" to be undocumented. The only way that the agency can "know" this is through either:

  1. Presentations of documents that appear forged or falsified
  2. Admission by the alien or another household member that the person is undocumented
  3. Viewing a current order of deportation

Do not use a false social security number to apply for public benefits. You cannot obtain benefits this way and it may result in legal problems.

Food Stamps

When your family applies for food stamps, you must tell the agency about the citizenship and immigration status of everyone in your family. Each person in your family also must give the agency his or her social security number. If they don’t have one, they must get one. The agency can help. This will not delay your family’s application. However, the benefits agency may not deny your child food stamps if or more family members is unwilling to give information about his/her social security number and immigration status.

For more information about Food Stamps, contact the Cabinet of Families and Children at 1-800-931-9112 or 502-595-4238 (local office).

If you feel that you or your child has been denied food stamps unfairly, contact Legal Aid at 502-584-1254.

Medicaid

Anyone who wants to receive Medicaid benefits must tell the agency about their own citizenship or immigration status. You also must give the agency your social security number if you have one. If you do not have a social security number, you must get one. The agency can help you do this. This will not delay your application. If you or anyone else in your family or household does not want to get Medicaid benefits, then you DO NOT have to give information about your citizenship, immigration status or your social security number. You can give Social Security Numbers voluntarily. If you do. the agency will use this information to verify your family’s income.

If you are applying only for emergency Medicaid you do not need to give information about your immigration status or your social security number.

For more information about Medicaid, contact the information line at 1-800-635-2570 (you may ask for an interpreter).

If you feel you have been denied Medicaid unfairly. contact Legal Aid at 502-584-1254.

KCHIP: Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program

If you are applying for KCHIP benefits for a child, you must give the agency information about the citizenship and immigration status of the child. However, you do not have to give information about the citizenship or immigration status of other family or household members because they are not eligible to receive KCHIP benefits.

No one in your family or household, including your child, has to give the agency their social security number in order for your child to get KCHIP benefits. You can give SSNs voluntarily. If you do, the agency will use them to verify your family’s income.

For more information about KCHIP, call the hotline 1-800-KCHIP-18 (English) or 1-800-662-5397 (Spanish).

If you feel your children have been unfairly denied benefits, contact Legal Aid at 502-584-1254.

Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP)

When your family applies for KTAP benefits, you must tell the agency about the citizenship and immigration status of everyone in your family. Each person in your family also must give the agency his or her social security number. If they don’t have one, they must get one. The agency can help. This will not delay your family’s application. However, the benefits agency may not deny your child assistance if one or more family members is unwilling to give information about his/her social security number and immigration status.

For more information about KTAP, contact Cabinet for Families and Children at 502-564-7050 or 502-595-4238.

If you feel you or your child has been denied benefits unfairly, contact Legal Aid at 502-584-1254.

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