FNS Documents & Resources

This letter provides information to WIC state agencies and WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program state agencies on available American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 waivers and a new state agency request process.

This letter provides WIC state agencies the opportunity to opt into waivers to modernize WIC through building or enhancing remote services.

On Nov. 8, 2022, FNS published WIC Policy Memorandum #2023-1 Abbott Infant Formula Waiver Expiration Schedule which extended active waivers to Jan. 31, 2023, or 60 days after the end of the Presidentially-declared COVID-19 major disaster declaration in the affected area, whichever is sooner. However, FNS recognizes that WIC state agencies may need additional flexibility to ensure uninterrupted access to infant formula for WIC families even as WIC state agencies transition back to normal operations. The intent of this policy memorandum is to formally describe the timeline for this transition, as previously described in the Dec. 19, 2022 letter to state agencies.

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.