HUD HCV Guidebook § 14

The following terms are used in this Chapter:
Admission is the point when the family becomes a participant in the program. The date used for this purpose
is the effective date of the first HAP contract for a family (first day of initial lease term) in the tenant-based
program.
Adult is a person who is 18 years of age or older or who has been convicted of a crime as an adult under any
Federal, State, or tribal law.
Applicant means a person or a family that has applied for housing assistance.
Child means a member of the family other than the family head or spouse who is under 18 years of age.
Citizen means a citizen or national of the United States.
Disabled family means a family whose head, co-head, spouse, or sole member is a person with disabilities; or
two or more persons with disabilities; or one or more persons with disabilities living with one or more live-in
aides.
Displaced family is a family in which each member or the sole member is a person displaced by governmental
action, or whose dwelling has been extensively damaged or destroyed as a result of a disaster declared or
otherwise formally recognized under federal disaster relief laws.

Elderly family is a family whose head, co-head, spouse, or sole member is at least 62 years of age; or two or
more persons, each of whom are at least 62, living together; or one or more persons who are at least 62 living
with one or more live-in aides.
Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system is a web-based computer system that contains employment and
income information of individuals who participate in HUD rental assistance programs.
Extremely low-income family refers to a very low income family whose income does not exceed the higher of
30 percent of the area median income or the federal poverty level.
Family is either a single person or a group of persons as defined in 24 C.F.R. § 5.403.
Gender identity means the gender with which a person identifies, regardless of the sex assigned to that
person at birth and regardless of the person's perceived gender identity. Perceived gender identity means the
gender with which a person is perceived to identify based on that person's appearance, behavior, expression,
other gender related characteristics, or sex assigned to the individual at birth or identified in documents.
Household means the family and the PHA approved live-in aide.
Housing quality standards (HQS) are the HUD minimum quality standards for housing assisted under the HCV
program.
Law enforcement agency means the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), police departments, and other
law enforcement agencies that hold criminal conviction records. (Note that the NCIC is a division of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)).
Low income-limit is an income limit that HUD generally sets at 80 percent of the area median income.
Mixed family is a family that includes members who are citizens or have eligible immigration status and
members who do not contend to have eligible immigration status.
National means a person who owes permanent allegiance to the United States, for example, as a result of
birth in a United States territory or possession.
Noncitizen means a person who is neither a citizen nor national of the United States.
Temporary Protective Status (TPS) provides families with temporary immigration status to the United States.
Families that are granted TPS under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-
386) are provided with a “T” visa and are considered to have eligible immigration status under Section 207 of
the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Families with a “T” visa are eligible for full housing assistance
Upfront Income Verification is the verification of income before or during a family reexamination, through an
independent source that systematically and uniformly maintains income information in computerized form for
a number of individuals.
Verification Hierarchy is the order of preference for methods of verifying information supplied by an applicant
or tenant family.
Very low-income limit is an income limit that HUD generally sets at 50 percent of the area median income.

Exhibit 1: Non-citizen Rule – Summary of Documentation
Requirements
                     STATUS                                             DOCUMENTATION
                                                       Note: All documentation provided must be UNEXPIRED
 1) A citizen or national of the                     DECLARATION: For each family member with this status, a declaration of
 United States                                       citizenship signed under penalty of perjury. For each adult, the
                                                     declaration must be signed by the adult. For each child, the declaration
                                                     must be signed by an adult residing in the assisted dwelling unit who is
                                                     responsible for the child.

 2) A non-citizen claiming eligible
 immigration status who is 62 years                  AND: Proof of age
 of age.

 3) All other non-citizens claiming                  DECLARATION: For each family member with this status, a declaration
 eligible immigration status.                        of eligible immigration status signed under penalty of perjury. Adults
                                                     must sign their own declarations. AND:
 Categories of eligible immigration status:          A verification form: For each adult, the adult must sign the form. For
                                                     each child, an adult member of the family residing in the unit who is
 a) A non-citizen lawfully admitted for              responsible for the child must sign the form.
 permanent residence as an immigrant
 (includes special agricultural workers              The verification form must state that evidence of eligible immigration
 granted lawful temporary resident status            status may be released by the PHA to HUD and the CIS without
 and noncitizens that indicate they have             responsibility for the future use or transmission of the evidence by the
 satisfactory immigration status, such as            recipient. The form must also notify the signer of the possible release
 VAWA self-petitioners, whose verification of        of evidence of eligible immigration status by HUD. Such evidence
 eligibility or appeal of a determination as to      shall only be released by HUD to the CIS for the purpose of establishing
 permanent residence is pending with                 eligibility for financial assistance.
 DHS).83
                                                     AND:
 b) A non-citizen who entered the                    CIS Primary Verification of eligible immigration status must be
 United States before 1/1/72 (or                     conducted by the PHA through the CIS automated SAVE system. If this
 such later date as enacted by law)                  method fails to verify status, or, if the verification received indicates
 and:                                                ineligible immigration status, the PHA must request Secondary CIS
                                                     Verification within 10 days by sending to the local CIS Office
 i) Has continuously maintained residence            photocopies of CIS documents receiving (front and back) attached to
 in the U.S. since then; and                         Form G-845S – Document Verification Request.
 ii) Is not ineligible for citizenship, but who is
 deemed to be lawfully admitted for                  AND:
 permanent residence as a result of an               The PHA must request and review an original CIS document of eligible
 exercise of discretion by the Attorney              immigration status and must retain photocopies and return the original
 General.                                            to the individual.

DOCUMENTATION
                         STATUS                                      Note: All documents provided must be
                                                                                  UNEXPIRED
4) All other Non-citizens with eligible                    Acceptable Original CIS Document:
immigration status (continued)
a) A non-citizen who is lawfully present in the             • Form I-551 “Permanent Resident Card”
United States as a result of:                               • Form I-94 Arrival-Departure Record annotated with one of the
• Refugee status, including those granted Temporary         following:
Protective Status (TPS) under the Victims of Trafficking  “Admitted as a Refugee Pursuant to Section 207”
and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-386)           “Section 208” or “Asylum”
(section 207); or                                            “Section 243(h)” or “Deportation stayed by Attorney General”
• The granting of asylum (which has not been                 “Paroled Pursuant to 9 CFR Section 221 (d)(5) of the INS”
terminated (section 208); or                                • Form I-94 Arrival-Departure Record with no annotation
• The granting of conditional entry (section 203 (a)(7))    accompanied by:
prior to 4/1/80 because of persecution of fear on            A final court decision granting asylum (but only if no appeal is
account of race, religion, or political opinion, or         taken);
because of being uprooted by catastrophic national           A letter from a DHS asylum officer granting asylum (if
calamity.                                                   application is filed on or after 10/1/90) or from a DHS
b) A non-citizen who is lawfully present in the United      district director granting asylum (application filed before
States as a result of an exercise of discretion by the      10/1/90);
Attorney General for emergent reasons or reasons             A court decision granting withholding of deportation; or
deemed strictly in the public interest (section
                                                             A letter from an asylum officer granting withholding or
221(d)(5)) (e.g., parole status).
                                                            deportation (if application filed on or after 10/1/90).
c) A non-citizen who is lawfully present in the United
                                                            • Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification annotated with:
States as a result of the Attorney General's’ withholding
                                                             Acceptable document from List A or,
deportation (section 243(h)) (threat to life or freedom).
d) A non-citizen lawfully admitted for temporary or          Combination of one selection from List B and one selection
permanent residence (245A) (amnesty granted).               from List C
e) An alien who is lawfully resident in the United States • Form I-360 VAWA Self-Petition
and its territories and possessions under section 141 of • Form I-130 Family-Based Visa Petition
the Compacts of Free Association between the                • Form I-797 Notice of Action
Government of the United States and the Governments • A receipt issued by the DHS indicating that an application for
of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of            issuance of a replacement document in one of the above listed
Micronesia (48 U.S.C. 1901 note) and Palau (48 U.S.C.       categories has been made and the applicant’s entitlement to the
1931 note) while the applicable section is in effect:       document has been verified; or
Provided, That, within Guam any such alien shall not be • Other acceptable evidence. If other documents are
entitled to a preference in receiving assistance under this determined by the DHS to constitute acceptable evidence of
Act over any United States citizen or national resident     eligible immigration status, they will be announced by notice
therein who is otherwise eligible for such assistance.      published in the Federal Register.