Food Stamps

Finding out if you’re eligible for food stamps and then applying to them can be a headache, but not if you know the right way to go about it.

Eligibility

There are five different ways to determine if someone’s eligible for food stamps:

• Resources: Resources are things like having no more than $2,000 in bank accounts or countables. Some states (39 so far) don’t count vehicles as resources, while 11 states discount one vehicle per household and the remaining three exempt a vehicle’s amount higher than the SNAP standard of $4,650. Some things that don’t count as resources include home and lot, most pension plans, and the resources of people who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits.
• Income: Most households have to meet both gross and net income tests, but some only have to meet the latter, like those with an elderly person or someone who’s receiving TANF.
• Deductions: There are seven different types of deductions with the full list available on the SNAP site. All the appropriate deductions that pertain to a person or household have to be applied before net income can be calculated and benefits can be applied.
• Employment Requirements: Adults of working age (18 to 50) without dependent children can usually get SNAP benefits for three months over a three-year program if they don’t participate in anything other than a job search. But the restrictions are tighter for able-bodied adults aged 16 to 60, as they’re expected to work in order to maintain SNAP benefits.
• Special Rules for Elderly or Disabled: There’s only one way if a person can qualify as elderly, and that’s if they’re 60 years of age; there are six different ways a person can be considered disabled under the SNAP program, though.
• Immigrant Eligibility: As of the 2002 Farm Bill, most legal immigrants can receive SNAP benefits if they’ve been in the country five years or have children under 18 or currently receive benefits or assistance related to a disability.

Applying

The first thing to do is to locate your local SNAP office and schedule a visit. You can do an online test first to see if you qualify for food stamps, as some states allow people to apply online. Either way, make sure you have the following information on hand with you:

• Household financial information like rent, utilities, resources, income, and all other sources of incoming money
• All government benefits or assistance that you have ever received, even if you’re currently getting them, like Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security
• Medical information about each member in the household, including yourself

Once you have that information in one place and have either applied online or in person, it’s just a waiting game until the benefits come in. Some people tend to get processed sooner, like if they have a small amount in their bank accounts, but the process still isn’t over.

Once the application is done, you’ll need to schedule an interview to pick up your EBT card. At this interview, you’ll need to show verification and you’ll need to bring the following documents prove: expenses (child care, child support, medical), identity, address, name/age/relationship/Social Security Number of all household members, and all earned/unearned monthly before taxes and deductions.

The process of seeking eligibility and applying for food stamps can be a road-bending one, but it’s really just composed of a series of important steps that need to be followed in order.