DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT OF 
AGRICULTURE  
September 21, 2000  
Dear State Health and Welfare Officials:  
SUBJECT: Policy Guidance Regarding Inquiries into Citizenship, Immigration Status 
and Social Security Numbers in State Applications for Medicaid, State Children's Health 
Insurance Program (SCHIP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and 
Food Stamp Benefits  
Since 1993, the Clinton Administration and states have worked diligently to ensure that eligible 
persons are enrolled in and have access to federal benefit programs and services. Medicaid, State 
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families 
(TANF) and Food Stamp supports are critical for all eligible low-income families, especially 
those trying to make the transition from welfare to work. The Administration will continue to 
work with states to reduce and eliminate access barriers that discourage the enrollment of all 
eligible program participants, including those in immigrant families. For example, in May 1999, 
the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) issued comprehensive guidance regarding the 
standards used for making public charge determinations. The public charge guidance was issued 
to address concerns in immigrant communities about the consequences of participating in public 
assistance programs such as TANF, Medicaid, SCHIP and Food Stamps. We also have worked 
with states to simplify and streamline their application forms and processes and to reduce 
administrative barriers to enrollment.  
Recent information, however, has focused attention on another barrier: that U.S. citizen children 
and other eligible persons who live in immigrant families still may be deterred from applying for 
benefits because they are concerned about responding to certain questions on application forms 
regarding the disclosure of immigration status and social security numbers (SSNs) for family 
members who are not seeking assistance. This concern appears to stem from uncertainty among 
immigrant families regarding the confidentiality of information provided to states and the fear 
that states may provide information about family members to the INS. Although federal law may 
sometimes require states to ask these questions of applicants, many states are requiring non-
applicants to disclose immigration status and/or SSNs, even though this information is not 
legally required. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, 
color and national origin by federal fund recipients. To the extent that states? application  requirements and processes have the effect of deterring eligible applicants and recipients who 
live in immigrant families from enjoying equal participation in and access to these benefit 
programs based on their national origin, states inadvertently may be violating Title VI.  
To help states understand their responsibility for enrolling eligible children and families, and to 
reduce and eliminate access barriers, we are providing this guidance and the accompanying set of 
Questions and Answers (Qs&As). Together, they clarify when a state is required to request 
information about citizenship, immigration status, and social security numbers (SSNs) on joint 
and single-program applications, when a state is not required to do so, and the circumstances 
under which a state may or may not deny benefits when an applicant does not provide the 
information that the state has requested. The guidance and the accompanying Qs&As also clarify 
policy in the TANF program and set forth new policy in the Food Stamp program intended to 
provide states with greater flexibility to design their application forms and procedures to 
eliminate access barriers for eligible children and adults in immigrant families.  
Section I of the guidance sets forth basic rules regarding inquiries into citizenship and 
immigration status during the application process. Section II addresses the application of the 
basic requirements of the Privacy Act to inquiries regarding social security numbers on benefit 
application forms. Section III outlines the content of the accompanying set of Qs&As. These 
Qs&As are an integral and important part of this guidance, as they detail the specific rules and 
how those rules are applied in the Medicaid, SCHIP, TANF and Food Stamp programs. Finally, 
Section IV outlines specific suggestions to help states make changes to their application forms 
and processes to eliminate access barriers in conformity with this guidance.  
I. Application Requirements and Inquiries Regarding Citizenship or Immigration Status  
Under federal law, states are required to establish the citizenship and immigration status of 
applicants for Medicaid (except emergency Medicaid), SCHIP, TANF and Food Stamps. 
However, states may not require applicants to provide information about the citizenship or 
immigration status of any non-applicant family or household member or deny benefits to an 
applicant because a non-applicant family or household member has not disclosed his or her 
citizenship or immigration status.  
Thus, for example, in the Medicaid program, if benefits are being sought only for the child, the 
child is considered the "applicant," and the state is required to establish the citizenship and 
immigration status of the child, but not the child's parents. Further, the state may not deny 
benefits to the child, if otherwise eligible, because the child's parents have not provided 
information to establish that they are citizens or qualified immigrants.   It is important to underscore that each federal benefit program has somewhat different rules and 
policies regarding who is and is not considered "an applicant." While Medicaid and SCHIP allow 
-- indeed encourage -- individual children to apply for and receive benefits, TANF and Food 
Stamps, as a general rule, require families or households to apply for benefits as a unit. The 
accompanying Qs&As explain in detail how the rules regarding the requirements for establishing 
citizenship and immigration status are applied within each benefit program.  
 
II. Application Requirements and Inquiries Regarding Social Security Numbers  
States must comply with the Privacy Act and other federal laws when seeking disclosure of an 
individual's SSN. Under the Privacy Act, Section 7(a), states are prohibited from denying an 
individual any right, benefit, or privilege provided by law because of the individual's refusal to 
disclose his or her social security number (SSN) unless such disclosure is required by federal 
statute, or the state maintains a system of records in existence and operating before January 1, 
1975, and the disclosure of the SSN was required under statute or regulation adopted prior to 
that date to verify the identity of an individual.  
Where a state is not authorized to require an individual to disclose his/her SSN, states may 
request that individuals voluntarily provide SSNs. However, under the Privacy Act, any time a 
state agency requests an individual to disclose his or her SSN, that agency "shall inform that 
individual whether that disclosure is mandatory or voluntary, by what statutory or other 
authority such number is solicited, and what uses will be made of it." (Privacy Act of 1974 
Section 7(b)). Thus, in the Medicaid example cited earlier in Section I, states can ask non-
applicant parents for their SSNs to verify income, but to avoid a potential violation of the 
Privacy Act, they must clearly indicate that the provision of this information is voluntary and 
that their SSNs will be used, for example, only to verify their income. States also should inform 
the non-applicant parents that the failure to provide their SSNs voluntarily will not affect the 
eligibility of their child, if otherwise eligible.  
The Privacy Act, as a general rule, prohibits states from denying program benefits to certain 
applicants who do not disclose their SSNs if the disclosure is not required by federal statute. In 
addition, separate and apart from the Privacy Act prohibitions, Medicaid, SCHIP and Food 
Stamp laws and federal policies prohibit states from denying benefits to an applicant because of 
the failure of another household member to disclose his or her SSN.  
Again, because of differences among the Medicaid, SCHIP, TANF and Food Stamp programs,  the specific rules and procedures for each program with regard to SSN inquiries are set forth in 
detail in the accompanying set of Qs&As.  
 
III. Program-Specific Rules  
The accompanying Qs&As detail program-specific rules and provide further explanation of: 1) 
the legal and policy basis for this guidance; (2) the circumstances under which a state may and 
may not request information about citizenship, immigration status and SSNs on single and 
joint-program applications;  
(3) when a state may and may not deny benefits because an applicant has not provided the 
information the state has requested; and (4) other implementation issues.  
 
IV. Suggestions for States  
We recognize that most states have consolidated their application forms and use joint 
applications for Medicaid, SCHIP, TANF, Food Stamps and other benefits. Joint applications 
eliminate duplication for states and applicants, and they help ensure that applicants receive all 
the benefits to which they may be entitled, not just benefits for which they had originally 
intended to apply. We also recognize that designing consumer-friendly, non-discriminatory 
joint application forms that combine eligibility requirements for different federal and state 
benefit programs can be challenging, especially given the recent and significant changes 
introduced by welfare reform. States need to review and possibly modify their application 
forms to make them consistent with this guidance. Given the variety of application forms and 
processes used by states, it is difficult to provide specific direction as to how each may need to 
be modified. Federal regional offices are available to provide technical assistance, and we 
encourage states to work with them as they adapt application forms to be consistent with this 
guidance. The following general recommendations may be helpful:  
1   As explained in more detail in the accompanying set of Qs&As, states have the 
flexibility under this guidance to restructure their joint application forms and processes to allow 
family or household members who are not seeking benefits to be designated as non-applicants 
early in the eligibility process. This approach eliminates the need to make broad inquiries about 
citizenship, immigration status or SSNs, while still allowing states to obtain other information 
from non-applicant family or household members that is necessary to make eligibility 
determinations, e.g., income and resources.  
2   Many joint applications require individuals to provide the citizenship or immigration  status, and/or the SSN, of every member of the "household" in order to be eligible for any or all 
of the benefits under the joint application (including TANF, Medicaid, and Food Stamps). States 
should delete such general requests from joint applications and replace them with requests that 
are directed to the relevant "applicant (s)" for benefits, consistent with this guidance (including 
the attached program specific rules).  
3   As noted throughout this guidance letter and the Qs&As, non-applicants cannot be 
required to disclose information about their citizenship or immigration status as a condition of an 
applicant?s eligibility. Even asking non-applicants to disclose such information, without stating 
clearly that this information is not required, raises concerns under Title VI of the Civil Rights 
Act of 1964, if the effect is to deter otherwise eligible applicants who are protected against 
discrimination by Title VI from applying for benefits.  
4   States should make clear statements about the use and confidentiality of personal 
information collected through the eligibility process, including SSNs and immigration status, in 
order to address directly the fears of immigrant families. For example, if a state or local agency 
is collecting SSNs only to verify income and improve administration of its programs, it could 
add the following statements to its application form: "We only use social security numbers to 
help us verify your income. We will not share social security numbers with the INS." We believe 
such clear statements will encourage individuals to more readily provide SSNs, either as required 
or requested.  
5   If a state requires that applications be filed on a "family" or "household" basis under the 
TANF and/or Food Stamp programs, states should clearly provide information about how 
eligibility is affected and how the application will be processed if any member of the family or 
household unit does not provide information about citizenship, immigration status or an SSN. 
For example, with respect to TANF, states are encouraged to advise that if an individual family 
member does not provide information about his or her citizenship and immigration status, and/or 
does not provide his or her SSN, he or she will be excluded from the family unit as an ineligible 
household member. His or her failure to disclose this information will not affect the potential 
eligibility of other family members, but it will affect the amount of the benefits received. As 
noted above, states are encouraged to allow family and household members to choose to be 
identified as non-applicants early in the eligibility determination process.  
6   
1   If states decide not to permit individual family or household members to choose to be 
non-applicants in TANF and/or Food Stamps, states must ensure that their application forms 
promote enrollment of eligible families and eliminate the potential for discriminatory impact on 
eligible applicants based on national origin. We recommend that states design their joint 
application forms so that families and households complete the information needed to apply for 
Medicaid and/or SCHIP first, since neither of these programs requires a family or household to 
apply as a unit. States should inform families and households that they may choose not to apply 
for TANF and/or Food Stamp benefits and that their eligibility for Medicaid or SCHIP benefits 
will not be affected if the individuals applying for these benefits are otherwise eligible. States 
should also inform families and households that they may apply for any individual benefit 
program independent of the other programs. Families can then make informed decisions about 
whether they will provide additional information needed to establish eligibility for the other 
programs.  
2   In order to ensure that no inappropriate inquiries are made, states should clearly inform 
applicants which inquiries, or portions of inquiries, applicants are and are not required to answer  for each benefit program. For example: "If you are applying for Medicaid only, you only need to 
answer questions in [the Medicaid] Section or Question(s) xx," or alternatively, "If some family 
or household members are not applying for assistance for themselves, they do not need to 
provide [SSN and citizenship/ immigration status] information in Section or Question xx." States 
may include this information on their application forms or provide a separate written notice, 
attached to the joint application, that identifies what information must be provided in order for 
the applicant(s) to receive specific benefits. States may wish to consider using the sample notice 
that is attached to the Qs&As that accompany this guidance.  
3   States should provide information to all applicants about how the application will be 
processed and the effect on other family members. With respect to Medicaid, SCHIP, Food 
Stamps and TANF, states should emphasize the following points:  
 
  
(cid:131)  Except for non-citizens applying only for Medicaid coverage of emergency services, the state 
will not provide benefits to applicants who do not disclose their immigration status.  
(cid:131)  The state will not attempt to determine, via the INS, the immigration status of non-applicant 
household members who do not provide their immigration status.  
(cid:131)  When a state allows family or household members who do not provide their immigration 
status or SSNs to be treated as non-applicants, it also should inform the applicant that the 
state will not delay or deny the application for the members who disclose their immigration 
status and SSNs.  
(cid:131)  Under Medicaid, TANF, and Food Stamps, family members who are applicants, and who do 
not have SSNs, must apply for one, but the state may not delay, deny or discontinue 
assistance pending the issuance of their SSNs. States and local agencies also must assist 
applicants to apply for SSNs.  
 
 
1   States should consider education and training activities to ensure that intake caseworkers 
and other staff persons responsible for processing applications and making eligibility 
determinations understand and adhere to the principles described in this guidance.  
2   States should consider developing and implementing a plan for informing prospective 
applicants of the state's commitment to these principles. Non-profit organizations that provide 
assistance to or advocate for immigrants and/or low income families should be able to provide 
help in developing and implementing any such plan.  
 
We look forward to working with you and are available to provide technical assistance at your 
request. If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the issues discussed in this letter, 
please contact our regional staff.  
Sincerely,  
/s/   Olivia Golden, Assistant Secretary Administration for Children and Families  
/s/  
Shirley R. Watkins, Under Secretary Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services  
/s/  
 
Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, Administrator Health Care Financing Administration  
/s/  
Thomas Perez, Director Office for Civil Rights  
 
Attachments:  
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers Sample Interim Notice