How to Apply for Federal Food Stamps

The federal Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, SNAP -- more commonly known as food stamps -- is designed to help you purchase some, but not all, of your household's food needs. If you meet the income and resource limits, the easiest way to apply is online. If you don't have access to a computer, or your county doesn't have an online application process, you can apply at the closest office.

Things You'll Need

• Pay stubs for the last month
• Social Security numbers for everyone in your household

Instructions

1. Check the usda.gov website to determine your current eligibility. At the time of publication, you can have up to $2000 in resources, like savings and investments, or $3000 if your household includes someone age 60 or older.

2. Calculate the income eligibility amount for your household size. Currently, eligibility requires a gross (before taxes) monthly income of 130 percent or less of the federal poverty level for your household size. For the purposes of the calculation, a household includes everyone who lives, purchases and prepares meals together. However, a person over 60 who cannot participate in purchasing and preparing meals due to a disability it also counted.

3. Visit the USDA website to determine if you can apply online or where you will find the closest state or county office. After finishing and submitting your application for everyone in your food stamp household, you will receive a letter asking you to bring some documents to the local office. This may include ID, Social Security cards, pay stubs, rent receipts or utility bills. If you don't have all of the documents at the time they ask you to come to the office, you should still go to the interview and tell the worker why you don't have the documents.

4. After your short interview your worker will tell you if you are eligible to emergency food stamps. If she doesn't, then ask. You may be requested to bring other documents back, but the worker only needs to verify your ID, Social security number and your income and resources for emergency food stamps. If you are eligible for emergency food stamps, you will receive them within five days.

5. Your case will be reevaluated every 3 months, or every month in some counties. You will receive a form in the mail asking you if there have been any changes in your case. You will need to provide pay stubs for the month for which information is requested. If you are confused when you receive this form, call and ask for assistance. Save all your pay stubs to turn in. Make sure you answer each question and sign and date the form. The information on this form will be used to update the amount of food stamps you will receive.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are over the income limit but have children under five, or you are pregnant, you should apply for WIC or Women, Infants, and Children at the USDA website, as their income limits are much higher.

• Resources do not include your home or the lot it sits on or the resources of household members receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Some states also exclude the value of vehicles.

• Twenty percent of earned income is excluded for eligibility as well as medical expenses for the elderly and certain standard deductions based on household size.

• Food stamp fraud that leads to receiving more than $500 in food stamps for which you were not eligible must be repaid with an additional fine and could lead to jail time.

References

• USDA Food and Nutrition Service:Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program