Eligibility for 3SquaresVT

You may be able to get 3SquaresVT benefits even if you are:

• working
• unemployed
• homeless or living with others
• an immigrant
• 60 or older or with a disability
• an adult with or without children
• military families
• a student
• an AmeriCorps member
• a household that received the Earned Income Tax Credit

Many legal non-citizen residents receive food stamps including:

• individuals who receive disability benefits
• lawful permanent residents who have lived in the U.S. for 5 years or who have 40 qualifying quarters of work. “Work Quarters” is a term used by the Social Security Administration. There are four work quarters in a year. A quarter is January to March, April to June, July to September and October to December of each year.
• individuals born before 8/22/1931 who have lived in the U.S. for 5 years
• children under 18
• victims of domestic violence (children and adults)
• Hmong or Highland Laotian tribe members lawfully residing in the U.S.
• people given asylum status
• refugees
• individuals whose deportation or removal from United States has been withheld under U.S. Immigration Law
• Cuban or Haitian immigrants
• Canadian-born American Indians
• children born of Vietnamese and American parentage from the Vietnam War Era
• veterans of the U.S. military, or persons serving in the U.S. military, or a spouse or child of a person in the military or a veteran

Here is a partial list of people who are not eligible for 3SquaresVT:

• people who quit work without a good reason or do not follow the 3SquaresVT work rules
• students who are enrolled half time or more in college (however, there are many exemptions to this rule)
• people who do not give their Social Security Number
• people who were disqualified for an intentional program violation
• fleeing felons
• people who live in an institution, with some exemptions
• residents of commercial boarding houses, with some exemptions
• strikers – households with striking members are not eligible for food stamps unless the household was eligible for 3SquaresVT before the strike

You may qualify, even if you are a member of one of these groups. See our Eligibility Rule Exemptions page for more details.

Please visit this Do I Qualify web page to find out more.