Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA)

Title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) restricts the eligibility of non-U.S. nationals (aliens) for many federal benefit programs. It applies to federal health care, housing, welfare, unemployment, and retirement benefits, as well as many other types of federal benefits. Before PRWORA, individual program statutes established the eligibility restrictions for aliens, if any, that applied to particular programs. A major purpose of PRWORA was to establish a set of uniform and restrictive eligibility criteria for a broad array of federal benefits. PRWORA also establishes default restrictions on alien eligibility for state and local benefits.

Under PRWORA’s baseline rule for federal benefits, only “qualified aliens”, eligible non-citizens, are eligible for benefits that fall within the statute’s definition of “federal public benefit.” Qualified aliens include lawful permanent residents, asylees, refugees, and some other groups. This baseline rule, which has some exceptions, bars nonqualified aliens such as holders of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and nonimmigrants from receiving federal public benefits. Beyond the baseline rule, the statute imposes additional restrictions on the eligibility of qualified aliens for certain major federal benefit programs, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Regional Adult & Career Education (RACE1) is federally funded and must abide by whom PRWORA determine to be eligible for our services. For more information on PRWORA please read details on the Congress website.