Non-citizens applying for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are required to provide documentation of eligible immigration status or designation as a condition of eligibility. County agencies must verify this information using the systematic alien verification for entitlement (SAVE) program established by the department of homeland security United States citizenship and immigration services (USCIS). USCIS updated the SAVE verification procedure to eliminate the paper-based process requiring the county agency to submit additional verification request using USCIS form G-845, Verification Request.

Ohio Administrative Code rules 5101:4-3-07 and 5101:4-7-14 have been amended to align with federal guidance of the requirement to submit all verification request electronically through SAVE.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) has completed a review of the following rules and these rules have been subject to a review by the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR). The changes will become effective on 12/1/2023.

Chapter 3000

5101:4-3-07 "Food assistance: Citizenship, Alien Status, and Reporting Illegal Aliens."

This rule describes the citizenship and alien status requirements used to determine eligibility for supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) benefits. The rule change is the reference to USCIS form G-845 was removed from paragraph (F)(2).

Chapter 7000

5101:4-7-14 "Food assistance: Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement programs."

This rule describes the process of accessing the SAVE program to verify the validity of documents provided by non-citizens applying for SNAP.  Changes to the rule include:   

• Edits were made to paragraph (B) to update the three methods for verifying immigration documents;
• Edits were made to paragraph (B)(3) to explain the third-level verification review process; and
• Paragraph (D) was stricken as the paper-based process is now obsolete.