TANF-ACF-PI-2022-07 REVISED (Afghanistan Parolees - TANF Eligibility Date Extended)

Publication Date: November 21, 2022
Current as of:

TO: 

State and territorial agencies (hereafter, states) administering the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program

SUBJECT:

Afghanistan Parolees - Eligibility Date Extended

REFERENCES:

Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-180); Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act, Division C - Afghanistan Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022 (Public Law 117-43); TANF-ACF-PI-2021-06 (Afghanistan Parolees Now Eligible for TANF)

PURPOSE:

To advise states of the statutory change in the eligible parole date for Afghanistan citizens and nationals who assisted the U.S. government overseas, were relocated in the U.S. under emergency evacuation, were paroled into the U.S., and are eligible to receive benefits available to refugees, including TANF.  

BACKGROUND:

On September 30, 2021, Congress passed the Afghanistan Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022 (Public Law 117-43).  Section 2502 of the legislation provided that Afghan humanitarian parolees[1] are eligible to receive federal benefits, including TANF, from the date of enactment. Specifically, section 2502 of this legislation provided that the following individuals are eligible for TANF until March 31, 2023, (or the term of parole, whichever is longer) in the same way a refugee is eligible for TANF:

  • Afghan citizens and nationals paroled into the US between July 31, 2021, and September 30, 2022;
  • their spouses or children paroled after September 30, 2022; and
  • their parents or guardians paroled after September 30, 2022, if the Afghan citizen or national is an unaccompanied child.

POLICY UPDATE:

On September 30, 2022, Congress passed the Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-180). Division A, section 149(a) of this legislation extends the parole eligibility date to December 16, 2022, for Afghan citizens and nationals covered under section 2502 of Public Law 117-43, from the original parole eligibility date of September 30, 2022. Therefore, Afghan citizens and nationals paroled into the U.S. between July 31, 2021, and December 16, 2022, are eligible for TANF until March 31, 2023, (or the term of parole, whichever is longer) in the same way a refugee is eligible for TANF.

All other information in TANF-ACF-PI-2021-06 remains unchanged.

INQUIRIES:

Please direct inquiries to the TANF Program Manager in your region.

 

     /s/

Ann Flagg
Director
Office of Family Assistance

 

[1] “Humanitarian parolees” are individuals paroled into the United States under section 212(d)(5) of the INA (8 USC 1182(d)(5)).  That section gives the Attorney General the discretion to parole individuals into the United States “for urgent humanitarian reasons.”  Such paroled individuals are qualified aliens but are not exempted from the five-year bar, like refugees or asylees. Public Law 117-43 removed the five-year bar for the specified Afghan parolees. 

 

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