Services for Older Immigrants & Refugees
The New York State Office of Refugee and Immigration Services (ORIS) is available to provide valuable assistance for all immigrants. ORIS provides refugees with:
- Job preparation, training, and placement, and other employment services
- Mental health, English as a Second Language, case management, resettlement assistance, and other services
- Case management services to elderly refugees, ensuring access to mainstream aging services
- Foster care to refugee children in the US without a parent or guardian
- Health screening within the first 90 days of eligible immigration status to assure appropriate medical care, and access to the US health care delivery system
- Health and mental health care through case management and outreach
- Temporary assistance for refugees who are not eligible for other cash or medical assistance programs within eight months of being granted an eligible status.
SSI eligibility concerns
Older refugees in New York State may need help in applying for citizenship. The New York State Office of Refugee and Immigration Services can help them apply for citizenship and prepare for the Civics and English citizenship tests, learn about barriers that confront older persons who seek citizenship, and learn about local agencies who can help them. They can also help older refugees obtain health screening services.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 limited SSI time eligibility for refugees and for other refugee-like immigrants designated by the Social Security Administration. Refugees and other designated immigrants may receive SSI for a maximum of seven years unless they become naturalized citizens. Since 2003, a number of older refugees residing in New York State who have not naturalized have lost their SSI benefits. There have been several cases in which needy individuals have been without benefits for a period of time.
Those who became Safety Net recipients experienced a lower cash benefit amount than the SSI grant. Consequently, the transition from SSI creates hardship for the affected older persons and creates a shift of benefit costs from the federal program to the state and to counties. Under a grant from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) has collaborated with the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) to conduct regional meetings on these issues.
To find out about the programs and services of the New York State Office of Refugee and Immigration Services
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The Citizenship Helpline is: 1-800-566-7636, or (212) 419-3737. Hours are 9 am to 6 pm, Monday-Friday. Operators speak seventeen languages, including Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese and Korean. It assists callers with immigration issues related to status . Application assistance and other supportive services are offered to immigrants eligible for citizenship.
Call for more information: (518) 402-3096.
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