ABAWD Exemptions: Categories, Documentation, and Waivers

ABAWD exemptions are the categories that free an able-bodied adult without dependents from SNAP’s three-month time limit. If you’re 18 through 54, physically and mentally able to work, and have no dependents in your household, you normally lose SNAP after three months in any 36-month period unless you work 80 hours a month or qualify for one of the exemptions below.¹ The list is broader than most people expect, and the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 added three new categories that are now in federal regulation.

Age and Household Exemptions

Anyone under 18 or 55 and older is automatically outside the ABAWD time limit.² There’s no application; your date of birth in the state system handles it.

Household composition can exempt you too. If anyone under 18 is part of your SNAP household, every adult on that case is exempt. You don’t have to be the child’s parent. A step-parent, a relative, or an unrelated adult sharing the household all qualify, as long as the minor is on your SNAP case.²

Medical, Pregnancy, and Disability Exemptions

If you’re medically certified as physically or mentally unfit for employment, the time limit doesn’t apply. The regulation is flexible about proof. You qualify if you receive any temporary or permanent disability benefits from a government or private source, if your inability to work is obvious to the state agency, or if a doctor, nurse practitioner, psychologist, social worker, or similar professional provides a statement confirming you can’t work.²

Pregnancy is its own standalone exemption. You don’t need to show that you can’t work. Being pregnant is enough on its own to remove the time limit for the length of the pregnancy.¹

Veterans, Homeless Individuals, and Former Foster Youth

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 added three exemption categories that state agencies must now recognize.

Veterans are exempt regardless of age, disability status, or discharge conditions. The definition is broad and covers anyone who served in any branch of the armed forces, including reserve components, the Coast Guard, National Guard, and commissioned officers of the Public Health Service or NOAA.² A DD Form 214 or military ID can verify status.³

People experiencing homelessness are exempt. The federal definition covers anyone who lacks a fixed nighttime residence, lives in a shelter, is staying temporarily in someone else’s home for no more than 90 days, or sleeps in a place not meant for regular habitation such as a bus station or hallway.³

Former foster youth aged 24 or younger qualify if they were in foster care on their 18th birthday. This includes youth who were in extended foster care programs and those who left extended care early, as long as they were in foster care at age 18.²

One detail worth knowing: all three of these exemptions are set to expire on October 1, 2030, unless Congress extends them. On that same date, the upper age threshold reverts from 55 back to 50, so adults 50 through 54 would again fall under the time limit.²

Work, School, Unemployment, Treatment, and Caregiving

Several exemptions come from SNAP’s general work requirement rules rather than the ABAWD regulation itself. If any of these fit your situation, the time limit doesn’t apply.²

Working 30 or more hours per week, or earning at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour multiplied by 30 hours, which comes to $217.50 per week.¹⁴
Enrolled at least half-time in a recognized school or training program. College students face separate SNAP eligibility rules beyond the ABAWD exemption.¹
Receiving unemployment compensation, or complying with a work registration requirement under the unemployment system.¹
Participating in a drug or alcohol treatment program on a regular basis.¹
Caring for a child under six or an incapacitated household member.

These exemptions are different from simply meeting the 80-hour ABAWD work requirement. An exemption removes the time limit. Meeting the work requirement only stops months from being counted against you.

Documenting and Claiming an Exemption

Most exemptions need paperwork, though what counts varies by category. Disability-related exemptions call for a statement from a medical professional or proof that you’re receiving disability benefits. Pregnancy verification usually comes from a healthcare provider. Veterans can use a DD Form 214 or military ID. For homelessness, a statement from a shelter provider or social worker generally suffices.³

State agencies are required to try verifying your status through their own records and data-sharing systems before asking you to produce anything. If another public assistance program already confirms your status, you may not need to submit documents at all.³ When documents are needed, you can submit them through your state’s online benefits portal, by mail, or in person. Follow up to confirm that the exemption is reflected in your case file.

If your circumstances change mid-certification and you now meet an exemption, the state agency must apply it promptly and stop counting months against you.³

Geographic Waivers and State Discretionary Exemptions

Two other paths can lift the time limit without any action on your part. State agencies can request USDA waivers for counties or regions where unemployment exceeds 10 percent or there aren’t enough jobs to go around. While a waiver is in effect, no one in that area has months counted against the time limit, whatever their individual situation.⁵

States also have a discretionary pool of exemptions, each covering one person for one month. The Fiscal Responsibility Act reduced this pool from 12 percent to 8 percent of the state’s ABAWD caseload that has lost eligibility due to the time limit.⁶ You generally can’t request a discretionary exemption directly; a caseworker applies one if it’s available and your situation warrants it.

1
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Work Requirements
2
eCFR. 7 CFR 273.24 – Time Limit for Able-Bodied Adults
3
Federal Register. Program Purpose and Work Requirement Provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act
4
U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws
5
Food and Nutrition Service. ABAWD Waivers
6
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Work Requirement Policy Resources