On July 17, 2026, the federal government announced they will rescind the 2022 public charge regulation.  The rule does not change the immigration statuses that are exempt from public charge; instead, it will change how cases are evaluated, allowing USCIS officers to “assess public charge factors based on all pertinent facts and circumstances on a case-by-case [...]

Summer EBT is a federally funded program that provides a one-time benefit of $120 to purchase food for each eligible child in a household. A household will receive a Common Benefits Identification (CBIC) card for each eligible child with the benefit encoded. Households will have 122 days from the date of issuance to spend the $120 benefit.NYS Office [...]

Both the Essential Plan and Qualified Health Plans have expanded the citizenship/immigration criteria to include individuals granted deferred action through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Essential Plan’s inclusion of DACA recipients is effective August 1, 2024, and Qualified Health Plans inclusion will be November 1, 2024.The expansion allows DACA recipients with higher incomes [...]

For many years the Benefits Plus Leaning Center has offered an Immigrants’ Eligibility Chart which is designed for social service professionals working with individuals who are non-citizens.  The chart contains the immigration criteria for over 25 public benefit programs and is newly designed to identify programs that provide cash, food, health, etc.The chart, as well as [...]