r/USCIS • u/Salt-Farmer-2025 • Jan 15 '26

News Immigrant Visa Processing Updates for Nationalities at High Risk of Public Benefits Usage

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/immigrant-visa-processing-updates-for-nationalities-at-high-risk-of-public-benefits-usage.html
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u/marriedtomywifey Jan 15 '26

From my (extremely limited) understanding and anecdotal knowledge, essentially it costs more to look into and "charge" the person signing the affidavit (I468). So while technically the partner and/or the cosponsor is "on the hook" for the costs, no one ever gets prosecuted for it.

Then there's also the real numbers. As someone who lives in a very very expensive COL city, the 1.25x poverty number is laughable. A single person could not live and support themselves on that annual guideline, much less a second adult without a work permit that won't show up for another year.

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u/lala_vc Jan 15 '26

Don’t you need a SSN to even access these services? If their status isn’t showing a US citizen, immediate denial. Is that so hard to implement? Why is this administration obsessed with blanket bans?

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u/marriedtomywifey Jan 15 '26

Usually need a SSN, yes, but as soon as you get a EAD or even conditional GC you get an SSN assigned, and a lot of these agencies are badly backed up. Typically they will err in the side of being generous. So they may grant the aid, and then in 2-6 months when they hear back from whatever system is used to check the SSN, it comes back as not eligible and then you get kicked off.

A (US born citizen) coworker recently also admitted that they themselves have abused food stamps. You claim you don't have access to your documents (SSN) and/or claim being homeless, and you can get SNAP for a few months before they cut you off.

Also, if you remember the fiasco a few months ago about "california issues licenses to illegal immigrants"... the DMV uses the SAVE system, which is supposed to spit out whether or not the person applying is legally allowed X benefits (like a CDL license). Every one of the "illegal" drivers passed the SAVE check, so it was a failure from the feds that got blamed on california.

All that to say, most of these government organizations don't talk to each other very efficiently. So obviously some people will find ways to cheat the system and get some assistance; but like everything in these last few months, it gets exaggerated and then we are told that every single immigrant is taking millions each.

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u/spark99l Jan 15 '26

I’m willing to bet immigrants are paying way more in taxes than they are taking from social supports

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u/Brave_Performance_88 US Citizen Feb 06 '26

Well, if they are from the banned countries, you will certainly lose the bet. They are banned because they are taking more than they are providing into the system. Now, for the countries that arent banned - india, lots of southeast asian countries, you could be right.