Understanding Supplemental Security Income
SSI Eligibility Requirements2008 Edition

  WHO  IS  ELIGIBLE  FOR  SSI  BENEFITS?  

Anyone who is:

	aged (age 65 or older);
	blind; or
	disabled.

And, who:

	has limited income; and
	has limited resources; and
	is a U.S. citizen or national, or in one of certain categories of aliens; and
		In general, an alien who is subject to an active warrant for deportation or removal does not meet the citizenship/alien requirement.

	is a resident of one of the 50 States, including the District of Columbia, and the Northern Mariana Islands; and
	is not absent from the country for a full calendar month or more than 30 consecutive days; and
	applies for any other cash benefits or payments for which he or she may be eligible, e.g., pensions, Social Security; and
	gives SSA permission to contact any financial institution and request any financial records that the financial institution may have about you; and
	files an application; and
	meets certain other requirements.

WHAT DOES "AGED" MEAN?

"Aged" means age 65 or older.

"Blindness" in Social Security disability programs is "statutory blindness," which means:

	you have a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in your better eye with best correction; or
	you have a limitation in the field of vision of your better eye, so that the widest diameter of your visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees.

If you have a visual impairment that is not "blindness" as defined above you may still be eligible for SSI benefits on the basis of disability. See the definitions of disability for children and adults below.

An individual under age 18 is "disabled" if he or she has a medically determinable physical or mental impairment, which:

	results in marked and severe functional limitations; and
	can be expected to result in death; or
	has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.

If the individual is age 18 or older, the adult definition of disability explained below applies.

See SSI FOR CHILDREN and IF YOU ARE DISABLED OR BLIND for more information on the childhood disability evaluation.

WHAT DOES "LIMITED INCOME" INCLUDE?

Income includes:

	money you earn from work;
	money you receive from other sources, such as Social Security, workers compensation, unemployment benefits, Department of Veterans Affairs, friends or relatives; and
	free food or shelter.

We do not count all kinds of income for SSI, but most income that we do count reduces your SSI benefit amount. For more information, see SSI INCOME.

WHAT ARE "LIMITED RESOURCES"?

Resources are things you own such as:

	cash;
	bank account(s), stocks, U.S. savings bonds;
	land;
	vehicles;
	personal property;
	life insurance; and
	anything else you own that could be converted to cash and used for food or shelter.

We do not count all kinds of resources for SSI. For more information, see SSI RESOURCES.

The SSI limits for resources that we do count are:

Individual	—	$2,000
Couple	—	$3,000

To get SSI benefits, you must be:

	a citizen or national of the United States; or
	a non–citizen who meets the alien eligibility criteria under the 1996 legislation and its amendments.

When May A Non–Citizen Be Eligible For SSI Benefits?

Beginning August 22, 1996, most non–citizens must meet two requirements to be eligible for SSI benefits:

	the non–citizen must be in a qualified alien category, and
	meet a condition that allows qualified aliens to get SSI benefits.

A non–citizen must also meet all of the other requirements for SSI eligibility, including the limits on income, resources, etc.

There are seven categories of non–citizens who are qualified aliens. You are a qualified alien if the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says you are in one of these categories:

	Lawfully Admitted for Permanent Residence (LAPR) in the United States, including "Amerasian immigrant" as defined in Section 584 of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 1988, as amended;
	granted conditional entry under Section 203(a)(7) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) as in effect before April 1, 1980;
	paroled into the United States under Section 212(d)(5) of the INA for a period of at least one year;
	refugee admitted to the United States under Section 207 of the INA;
	granted asylum under Section 208 of the INA;
	deportation is being withheld under Section 243(h) of the INA as in effect before April 1, 1997, or removal is withheld under Section 241(b)(3) of the INA;
	“Cuban or Haitian entrant” under Section 501(e) of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 or in a status that is to be treated as a “Cuban or Haitian entrant” for SSI purposes; or

In addition, you can be a “deemed qualified alien” if, under certain circumstances, you, your child, or your parent has been subjected to battery or extreme cruelty while in the United States.

DHS does not determine this status.

If you are in one of the seven qualified alien categories listed above, or have been determined to be a “deemed qualified alien” because you have been subjected to battery or extreme cruelty, you may be eligible for SSI benefits if you have limited income and resources and are aged, blind, or disabled and also meet one of the following conditions:

	Work done by your spouse or parent may also count toward the 40 quarters of work, but only for getting SSI benefits.
	We cannot count quarters of work earned after December 31, 1996 if you, your spouse, or your parent worked or received certain benefits from the U.S. government based on limited income and resources during that period.

IMPORTANT:If you entered the United States for the first time on or after August 22, 1996, then you may not be eligible for SSI benefits for the first five years as LAPR, even if you have 40 qualifying quarters of work.

	refugee under Section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA);
	asylee under Section 208 of the INA;
	alien whose deportation was withheld under Section 243(h) of the INA or whose removal is withheld under Section 241(b)(3) of the INA;
	"Cuban or Haitian entrant" under Section 501(e) of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 or in a status that is to be treated as a "Cuban or Haitian entrant" for SSI purposes; or
	"Amerasian immigrant" under Section 584 of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 1988, as amended.

IMPORTANT:You may be eligible for SSI beyond the seven year period if you are in one of these categories, and you also meet one of the other conditions (1–4) above.

Exemption From the August 22, 1996, Law for Certain Non–Citizen Indians

Certain categories of non–citizens may be eligible for SSI benefits and are not subject to the August 22, 1996, law.

These categories include:

	American Indians born in Canada who are in the United States under Section 289 of the INA; or
	non–citizen members of a federally recognized Indian tribe under Section 4(e) of the Indian Self–Determination and Education Assistance Act.

Additional Eligible Alien Category

You may be eligible for SSI benefits under certain circumstances if the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee ResettlementOffice of Refugee Resettlement (http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/) determines that you meet the requirements of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

See the SSI Spotlight on SSI Benefits for Aliens.

WHAT IS RESIDENCY?

You must:

	live in the United States, District of Columbia, or the Northern Mariana Islands with the intent to continue living within the geographic limits of the United States; or
	be a child living with a parent in the military service assigned to permanent duty ashore anywhere outside of the United States; or
	be a student temporarily abroad for the purpose of conducting studies as part of an educational program.

See the SSI Spotlight on Special SSI Rules for Children of Military Personnel Living Overseas.

  WHO  IS  NOT  ELIGIBLE  FOR  SSI  BENEFITS?  

Some examples of who is not eligible for SSI benefits include, but are not limited to:

SOMEONE WHO IS A FUGITIVE FELON

An individual is ineligible to receive SSI benefits for any month during which he or she has:

	an unsatisfied warrant for a crime that is a felony or, in jurisdictions that do not define crimes as felonies, is punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year regardless of the actual sentence imposed under the laws of the place from which the warrant is issued. The Social Security Administration defines this individual as a "fugitive felon";
	an unsatisfied warrant for avoiding custody or confinement after conviction for a crime which is a felony or, in jurisdictions that do not define crimes as felonies, is punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year regardless of the actual sentence imposed under the laws of the place from which the person flees; or
	violated a condition of probation or parole imposed under Federal or State law.

The Social Security Administration will continue to pay an individual's benefit if a court of competent jurisdiction has found the individual not guilty, dismissed the charges, vacated the warrant for arrest, or issued any similar exonerating order or taken similar exonerating action. The Social Security Administration also will continue to pay an individual's benefit if the individual was erroneously implicated in connection with the criminal offense by reason of identity fraud.

Also, the Social Security Administration may continue to pay an individual's benefit if the individual establishes that the offense underlying the warrant or imposition of the probation or parole (as well as the violation of probation or parole) was both nonviolent and not drug–related and there were mitigating circumstances for not satisfying the warrant.

SOMEONE WHO IS IN PRISON OR JAIL

If you are receiving SSI benefits, and you go to prison or jail, you are not eligible to receive SSI benefits for any full calendar month you are in prison or jail.

Please see our pamphlet, "What Prisoners Should Know About Social Security," or view it online, at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10133.html, if you want more information about how being in prison or jail affects your SSI benefits.

In most instances, you can apply for SSI benefits and Food Stamps several months before you expect to be released from prison or jail. See the SSI spotlight on the Prerelease Procedure.

SOMEONE WHO IS IN A PUBLIC INSTITUTION AND MEDICAID IS NOT PAYING 50% OR MORE OF THE EXPENSES

If you are in any institution for a whole month that is run by a Federal, State or local government you are not eligible for SSI for that month. If you expect to leave the institution, you may use the prerelease procedure described in the SSI spotlight on the Prerelease Procedure.

SOMEONE WHO GIVES AWAY RESOURCES

If you give away a resource or sell it for less than it is worth in order to reduce your resources below the SSI resource limit, you may be ineligible for SSI for up to 36 months.

See SSI RESOURCES and the SSI Spotlight on Transfers of Resources.

SOMEONE WHO IS A NON–CITIZEN SSI RECIPIENT WHO FAILS TO MEET THE ALIEN STATUS REQUIREMENTS

	If you are receiving SSI benefits as a non–citizen and you lose your status as an eligible alien, you are not eligible to receive SSI benefits. For example, your SSI benefits will stop if you lose your status as a qualified alien because there is an active warrant for your deportation or removal from the United States.
	If you are a qualified alien but you no longer meet one of the conditions that allow SSI eligibility for qualified aliens, then we will stop your SSI benefits.

SOMEONE WHO IS AN SSI BENEFICIARY WHO IS ABSENT FROM THE UNITED STATES FOR A FULL CALENDAR MONTH OR MORE THAN 30 CONSECUTIVE DAYS

Except for certain students temporarily abroad for study purposes or a child of military parents stationed abroad, an individual is not eligible for SSI benefits for any month during all of which he has been outside the United States. Once an individual has been outside the United States for 30 consecutive days or longer, he must be present in the United States for 30 consecutive days to be eligible for SSI benefits.