Final Public Charge Regulation Incorporates Child-Focused Recommendations

Sept 9, 2022: The final regulation confirms that eligible immigrant families can use safety net programs without immigration concerns, including health care, housing, food and tax credits — past, current, and future receipt of these benefits will not be considered public charge. It will also protect their future by making it harder for future U.S. presidents to radically change public charge policy, and it clarifies that a child’s or other family member’s use of federal safety net programs never affects the applicant’s immigration application.

The final rule, which will be effective on December 23, 2022, incorporated recommendations that mitigate unintended adverse impacts on children, including:

• Explicitly excluding adults who apply on behalf of their children but do not receive the benefit themselves from the public charge rule, and
• Excluding non-cash benefits that children need to grow healthy from the public charge rule, including health, housing and nutrition benefits.

Read our full statement on the final regulation.