Social Security

Retention Date: May 22, 2025

Revisions:
Section C – We updated to provide information on documentation in subsection C.1. and information on the anticipated SAVE response in subsection C.2.
Section D – We updated to provide specific instructions and notice information for new applications and cases held as instructed in the prior Emergency Message.


A. Purpose

This sensitive Emergency Message (EM) provides technicians with instructions for handling SSI applications received from people from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), or the Republic of Palau (RP) who are also residents of one of the 50 U.S. States, District of Columbia, or Northern Mariana Islands (NMI).

B. Background

On March 9, 2024, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-42) amended the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), to permit SSI eligibility for certain citizens from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau, as well as certain spouses and certain children (under age 21) of citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia or the Republic of the Marshall Islands, regardless of the spouse’s or child’s citizenship or nationality, provided that the Micronesian or Marshallese citizen on which the relationship is based is serving on active duty in any branch of the United States Armed Forces, or in the active reserves.

These individuals may be eligible for SSI benefits immediately if they meet all other requirements of the program such as filing an application for benefits, having resources and monthly income below the statutory eligibility limits, and residing within one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or the Northern Mariana Islands.


C. Verification of SSI Alien Eligibility for CFA citizens.

As part of the SSI application process, the immigration documentation provided by the CFA citizen must be verified via the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system in all cases.

1. Documentation - Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may have issued Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record to CFA citizens following admission into the United States, which would also bear the admission stamp and notations that typically states “CFA/PAL” (Compact of Free Association/Palau), “CFA/FSM” (Compact of Free Association/ Federated States of Micronesia), or “CFA/MIS” (Compact of Free Association/Republic of Marshall Islands). Some older versions may be marked “CFA/RMI” for an RMI citizen. The admission period will indicate D/S (duration of status). Additionally, CFA citizens may be issued an electronic I-94, which the CFA citizen can access and print out a copy by visiting the CBP electronic I-94 printout website.

USCIS may have also issued an I-766, Employment Authorization Document (EAD) with a category code of A08.

2. SAVE Response – Based on information from the CFA citizen’s documentation, SAVE can provide an initial verification response of Non-immigrant Employment Authorized – Indefinitely. The initial verification response may also include employment authorization information if the CFA citizen has a Form I-766, Employment Authorization Document.

If the claimant's immigration status could not be verified during the initial verification process, initiate the additional verification step. See GN 00303.620.B.2 and GN 00303.630.

D. Field Office processing instructions for SSI applications from citizens from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), or the Republic of Palau

The instructions in this section pertain to new applications and to cases held prior to the instructions in this revision. Technicians should ensure all held cases are reviewed and adjudicated in accordance with these instructions.


1. Field office actions when claimant is ineligible for reasons other than immigration status

If the claimant applies for SSI and is ineligible for reasons other than immigration status, deny the claim based on that other factor.

2. Field office actions when the claimant is potentially eligible as a Citizen of the Compact of Free Association states

Take the SSI application and then review the immigration documents and verify the claimant’s immigration status via SAVE. If the documentation verifies in SAVE, technicians must document the claim in the Consolidated Claims Experience (CCE) as indicated below and develop all other factors of eligibility including, if appropriate, sending the case to the Disability Determination Service (DDS) for a medical determination.



a. On the Alien Status page, take the following steps:

o Enter the U.S. admission date as shown on the immigration document,



o Select the CFA Country of origin,



o Select “Alleges valid DHS status; status unknown or no other applicable status” on the Alien status.

o Select “Yes” for Alien status verified,



o Complete the Residency and Presence in U.S. page according to the claimant’s responses.

b. Follow normal policies to develop all other eligibility factors such as countable income, including living arrangement and in-kind support and maintenance, and resources (e.g., SI 00810.007, SI 00830.105, SI 01110.210, SI 01140.010, SI 01140.100, and SI 00835.000).

Reminder: Assess other benefit programs for which a claimant may be eligible based on their own activities or based on indirect qualification through family circumstances, e.g. consider the Marshall Islands social security program. See SI 00510.000.

c. Enter a special Unit field on the Development Worksheet page.

d. Establish the SSR and place the claim in payment status H80.


e. Add a remark to the SSR that reads “Citizen of the Compact of Free Association States.” See MS 08125.010 SSR Special Message.


f. Do not adjudicate until a favorable DDS determination is received (for non-aged claims). Leave the case in PSY:H80.

g. If the applicant is eligible for SSI and you are ready to adjudicate favorable presumptive disability cases, DDS allowances and aged claims, then follow these specific coding instructions:

o Send the data to the SSR, but do not close the initial claim event. If you adjudicate the claim in the system, the system will erroneously deny the claim N13. It is important to leave the claim in H80 status. Be sure all outstanding edits are resolved and the ECI field located in the RCRD segment of the SSR equals EI.

o Select Close Event = “No” on the Build SSR page.

o Send to the SSR. There will be no payment amounts to view on the SSIM; you will need to manually compute the payment amounts and post the payment amounts using force due.

o The record is established with or remains in payment status H80.

o Use eComputations to manually compute the SSI benefits due from the Date of Entitlement (DOE) and save a copy to the evidence portal. Remember no benefits are due for the E02 month.

h. When you are ready to post the payment amounts using force due, follow these steps:

o Select 2/19 from MSSI screen.

o Select the SSR you wish to update on the Direct SSR Selection (USSR) screen. This is usually the most recent SSR, which will appear as the first iteration on the USSR screen.

o On the USSR screen, select the “SSR."

o Select FORCE DUE AMOUNT/TERMINATE RECORD on UMEN.

o On the UFDC screen, enter the first month the claimant is eligible (E02 month) as the FORCE DUE BEGIN DATE.

o And enter “N” in the TERMINATE RECORD field.

o Use the results from eComputations to complete the FEDERAL AND STATE AMOUNTS due on the COLLECT FORCE DUE AMOUNTS (UFDC) screen.

o On UFDU enter $1.00 for the federal and State amounts for the 1st month, (E02 month) and the manually computed due amounts (based on income and living arrangement factors) for the rest of their eligibility period.

o If the claimant’s eligibility period has already ended, enter 0.00 for that month and continuing.

o If the claimant’s eligibility period is later than the current computation month (CCM), post a tickle on the Development Worksheet in CCE to post force due of 0.00 when the CCM for the first month of ineligibility arrives.

i. On the claim Development Worksheet in CCE, show “CFA” in the issue field. This helps identify CFA cases in the future. For more on completing the Development Worksheet page, see MS 08122.004.

NOTE: Since these cases will be in Force Due (M02) status, they will be listed on the Force Pay Listings website. The listings are updated quarterly. Enter “Compact of Free Association States” as a remark on the SSR so the case can be excluded from the actionable M02 list, for the duration of the aliens’ eligibility.

Reminder: Technicians should follow instructions in MS 08125.006 in order to exclude the processing time for claims held for over 90 days pending guidance.

3. Preparing the notice

Because force pay actions do not generate automated notices, it is necessary to generate a manual notice in Document Processing System and send the notice to the Online Retrieval System.

· Award notice - (SSA-L8025) See NL 00802.015.
To generate an award notice:


o Select from the Document Template:

o Alien 08 – Awd Ltr – 7 Yr Alien & Afghan non-SI pa,

o SSI Eligibility for CFA (SSI106),

o Full Alien Eligibility Requirements (ELG015), and

o Full Alien Eligibility Requirements to include CFA (ELG082)

o Select or enter the appropriate universal text identifiers (UTI) and fill-ins as appropriate to generate a complete notice.

o Select the UTI Alien Eligibility – Caption (CTZC01) within the template.

o Select the UTI SSI eligibility for citizens of CFA (SSI106) from the Eligibility List (Multiple Mandatory Choices) within the template.



· Denial Notice - (SSA-L8030) See NL 00802.025.

To generate a denial notice for CFA:

o Select the Alien 02 - Manual Denial - Not Eligible Alien document template.

o Full Alien Eligibility Requirements (ELG015), and

o Full Alien Eligibility Requirements to include CFA (ELG082)

o Select or enter the appropriate UTIs and fill-ins as appropriate to generate a complete notice.

o Select the UTI Alien Status Change & SSI Eligibility (ELG014).

Direct all programs–related and technical questions to your Regional Office (RO) support staff using vHelp or Program Service Center (PSC) Operations Analysis (OA) staff. RO support staff or PSC OA staff may refer questions, concerns, or problems to their CO contacts.


Reference:
GN 00303.400 Authorized Alien Status
GN 00303.620 Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program
GN 00303.630 Requesting and Interpreting the Response for an Initial or Additional Verification Using SAVE
NL 00802.015 Completion of the Manual SSA-L8025-U2, Notice of Award
NL 00802.025 Completion of the Manual SSA-L8030-U2, Notice of Disapproved Claim
SI 00502.100 Basic SSI Alien Eligibility Requirements
SI 00502.130 Documentary Evidence of Qualified Alien Status
SI 00502.142 Qualified Aliens Who Are Blind Or Disabled And Were Lawfully Residing In The U.S. On 8/22/96
SI 00510.000 Requirement to File for Other Program Benefits
SI 00810.007 Income Exclusions
SI 00830.105 Payments in Foreign Currency
SI 01110.210 Excluded Resources
SI 01140.010 Resource Verification Requirements
SI 01140.100 Non-Home Real Property
SI 00835.000 Living Arrangements and In-Kind Support and Maintenance - Table of Contents
SM 01701.001 How Force Due and Force Payment Work
SM 01701.030 Force Pay, Force Flag, or Force Due Listing
MS 00302.006 Force Due Process
MS 08122.004 Development Worksheet
MS 08125.010 SSR Special Messages