Immigrants and Public Benefits

A "public charge" is someone who is dependent on the government for long-term care, cash assistance or income maintenance. As an immigrant, you want to avoid becoming a public charge because it is a ground of inadmissibility and deportation. An immigrant who is likely to become a public charge is inadmissible, and ineligible to become a permanent resident of the United States. An immigrant may be deported if he or she becomes a public charge within 5 years of entering the U.S. It is extremely rare for an immigrant to be deported as a public charge.

To keep new immigrants from becoming public charges, the U.S. requires that sponsoring relatives or employers sign a contract (the Affidavit of Support) stating that the sponsored immigrant is not likely to become a public charge. The sponsor also acknowledges that an agency that provides any means-tested benefit to the immigrant may require the immigrant's sponsor to reimburse the agency for the amount of the provided benefit.

How Someone Becomes a Public Charge

If an immigrant receives cash assistance for income maintenance from Social Security Income (SSI), the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program or any state or local cash assistance programs for income maintenance--commonly referred to as "means-tested benefits"--these could make a non-citizen a public charge. However, in addition to this, you must also meet additional criteria before a public charge can be determined.

USCIS says "before an alien can be denied admission to the United States or denied adjustment of status to legal permanent resident based on public charge grounds, a number of factors must be considered...including: the alien’s age, health, family status, assets, resources, financial status, education and skills. No single factor--other than the lack of an Affidavit of Support, if required--will determine whether an alien is a public charge, including past or current receipt of public cash benefits for income maintenance."