FNS Documents & Resources

This memo provides information about which states are eligible to waive Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWD) time limits for participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program(SNAP) for fiscal year 2013.  Under  SNAP regulations at 7CFR 273.24(f)(2), a state can qualify for a 12-month statewide ABAWD waiver if the Department of Labor's Unemployment Insurance Service determines it meets the criteria for extended unemployment benefits.

This is to advise you that we are revising conditions associated with waivers of 7 CFR 273.10(f)(4) which would allow state agencies to shorten the certification periods of food stamp households

This is to advise you that we are expanding our criteria for the approval of waivers of the face-to-face interview at both initial and recertification. We also wish to note that since state agencies already may waive the face-to-face interview on an individual case basis based on a finding of hardship, we are now categorizing these waivers as waivers of the requirement that state agencies document hardship prior to utilizing alternatives to the face-to-face interview.

This is a follow-up of our memorandum of Feb. 3, 2006, authorizing 2-year waivers of the work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents. Since we issued the original memorandum, we have received several requests in which state agencies have requested waivers under which they proposed to include the same jurisdiction in waivers covering two different approval periods.

At the request of the state agencies, SNAP offered a two-year ABAWD waiver under limited circumstances.