The first wave of refugees and asylees are now losing SSI benefits because they've reached the 7-year time limit mandated by the federal government's welfare reform in 1997. Refugees, asylees, and other "humanitarian" immigrants who arrived in the United States on or after 8/22/1996, and who have not yet become naturalized citizens are only eligible for SSI benefits in their first seven years in the United States. These groups in-clude but are not limited to:

• Russian Jews who fled the former Soviet Union,
• Iraqi Kurds who fled persecution under the regime of Saddam Hussein,
• Cubans who fled the Castro regime,
• Hmong immigrants from the highlands of Laos who served on the side of the U.S. military during the Vietnam War,
• victims of persecution in Somalia who are descended from persons abducted from their homes in Tanzania and Mozambique and enslaved,
• people from various regions of the former Yugoslavia that were displaced by the Balkan war,
• certain Haitians and Vietnamese Amerasians with "refugee-like" status.

These people are elderly immigrants who suffered tremendous hardship in their native countries and during the journey to the United States. They are taxpayers with citizen children. Many of them are in the application process for naturalization but are waiting because of unreasonable delays and backlogs at the immigration service.

NOTE: Refugees and asylees who were already receiving SSI benefits before 8/22/1996 remain eligible regardless of their length of residency in the United States.

INFORMATION ON NATURALIZATION:

• Refugees are able to apply for adjustment to legal permanent resident (green card holder) status 1 year after the date of entry.
• After being granted legal permanent resident status and living in the U.S. continuously for five years, refugees are able to apply for citizenship.
• After asylee status is granted, asylees are also able to apply for adjustment to legal permanent resident status after living in the U.S for one year BUT only 10,000 asylees are eligible to receive green cards each year REGARDLESS of the number of people who have been granted asylum.
• Once an application for citizenship is submitted, the process often takes more than a year in our district. For some immigration offices, the average time for processing a citizenship application is over two years. Because of this reason, many immigrants and refugees are unable to become naturalized within the 7-year time limit.

Please advise your clients that this is happening. MIRA is collecting stories about immigrants who are affected by these cuts. These stories are important advocacy tools to document how these immigrants are dealing with this loss of income. If you know of any clients/patients who have lost their benefits, please call the MIRA Coalition IMMEDIATELY at 617-350-5480: Carly Burton, ext. 208 or via email at cburton@miracoalition.org or call MLRI, Pat Baker at 617-357-0700 x328. Anonymity can be protected. A story collection form is available at the above numbers or from the CRC.

- Adapted from: MIRA Advisory 1/21/04