RD: Citizenship and Qualified Alien Status Eligibility Requirements for Multifamily Housing Applicants

On January 9, 2023, Rural Development’s Office of Multifamily Housing sent out the following information:

On December 8, 2022, Rural Development released a Procedure Notice (PN) to announce revisions to the Multifamily Housing (MFH) Loan Origination Handbook (Handbook-1-3560 Chapter 4) and the MFH Project Servicing Handbook (Handbook-3-3560 Chapter 7) to clarify citizenship and qualified alien status requirements for applicants during the MFH loan origination process and for MFH project ownership transfers.

Agency Regulation 7 CFR 3560.55 outlines the general applicant eligibility requirements for multifamily housing (MFH) direct loan and grant programs. To be eligible for Agency assistance, in addition to other applicable eligibility requirements, applicants must be a U. S. citizen or qualified alien(s); a corporation; a state or local public Agency; an Indian tribe as defined in § 3560.11; or a limited liability company (LLC), nonprofit organization, consumer cooperative, trust, partnership, or limited partnership in which the principals are U.S. citizens or qualified aliens.

Revisions to the MFH Handbooks outline acceptable evidence of U.S. citizenship and qualified alien status and the procedures for verification and certification of eligibility requirements by the applicant’s attorney for Agency review:

Individual applicants and organizational applicants must provide to their attorney acceptable evidence of U.S. citizenship and/or qualified alien status. Acceptable evidence of U.S. citizenship may include a valid U.S. birth certificate, a valid U.S. Passport, a valid U.S. Certificate of Naturalization, or other acceptable evidence of U.S. citizenship proposed by the applicant and determined by the Agency. Acceptable evidence of qualified alien status may include valid documentation issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), or other acceptable documentation of qualified alien status proposed by the applicant and determined by the Agency.

The applicant’s attorney must review all applicable evidence to verify U.S. citizenship and/or qualified alien status, must certify that the Agency’s U.S. citizenship and/or qualified alien status eligibility requirements are met by all applicants, and must submit the certification for Agency review.

Effective immediately, Multifamily Housing applicants should begin submitting an attorney’s certification of eligible citizenship/qualified alien status for all applicable transactions. Additional information can be found on Rural Development’s Resources webpage: https://www.rd.usda.gov/resources. Please contact Jonathan Bell at Jonathan.Bell@USDA.gov for additional information