How to Fill Out and Submit the Section 214 Declaration Form

The Section 214 declaration form is a one-page certification of citizenship or immigration status that every member of a household applying for or living in HUD-assisted housing must complete. You get the form from your Public Housing Agency (PHA) or the property owner or management agent, sign it at your initial application interview, attach immigration documents if you are a noncitizen claiming eligible status, and submit it along with a signed SAVE verification consent. Once your status is verified, you generally will not repeat the process at annual recertifications.

Who Has to Sign and When

Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 bars HUD from assisting anyone who is not a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or a noncitizen in one of the eligible categories set out in the statute. The rule reaches across the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program, Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation, project-based Section 8 rental assistance, Public Housing, and other HUD-funded housing programs.¹²

Every person in the household needs a separate declaration, regardless of age. Adults sign for themselves. A parent or legal guardian signs for a child or minor dependent.² Miss a form for anyone in the household and the agency can deny assistance or terminate an existing subsidy for the whole family.

You complete the form at two moments: your initial application interview, and any time a new person joins the household. That new person has to submit a declaration before being placed on the lease.

Filling Out the Form

The HUD model form asks for your printed name and signature.³ Many PHAs use an expanded version that also collects your date of birth, Social Security Number, and, for noncitizens, your Alien Registration Number.⁴ Use whichever version your housing agency gives you, and complete every field it asks for.

The core of the form is a set of checkboxes. Check exactly one:

U.S. citizen or national. Check this if you were born in the United States, were naturalized, or are a U.S. national. No supporting immigration documents needed.
Noncitizen with eligible immigration status. Check this if you fall into one of the categories recognized under 42 U.S.C. 1436a, which include lawful permanent residents, refugees, asylees, certain parolees, people granted withholding of removal, amnesty recipients under INA 245A, and citizens of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau residing under a Compact of Free Association. You must attach copies of your immigration documents and a signed verification consent form.⁵
Eligible noncitizen age 62 or older. The HUD model form provides a separate checkbox for this. Attach proof of age along with your immigration documents.³
Not contending eligible status. Check this if you do not have eligible immigration status or prefer not to disclose it. You will not receive housing assistance, and the household’s subsidy will be reduced to account for your presence.

Some PHA versions add a fifth box for noncitizens whose immigration documents are temporarily unavailable. If your agency’s form has that option, checking it usually gives you a limited window to produce the missing documents before your application stalls.

Documents to Attach if You Claim Eligible Noncitizen Status

If you check the eligible noncitizen box, attach the original of one of the documents HUD’s guidance identifies. The housing agency will look at the original and may photocopy it for the file.² The common ones are:

Form I-551, the Permanent Resident Card, for lawful permanent residents. A January 2026 HUD letter to property owners specifically names this as an example of acceptable documentation.⁶
Form I-94, the Arrival-Departure Record, when it carries certain annotations such as admission as a refugee, a grant of asylum, or parole.
Form I-688, the Temporary Resident Card, when annotated “Section 245A” or “Section 210.” This card is rarely encountered today.

You also sign a verification consent form authorizing the housing agency to run your status through federal databases. Your PHA or property owner provides this consent form alongside the declaration.

Where to Turn It In

Submit the completed declaration, any immigration documents, and the signed consent form to your PHA or the private owner or management agent of the subsidized property. Once your status has been verified, you generally do not go through the process again. HUD’s January 2026 owner/agent letter puts it plainly: “Once you have obtained documentation and verified the citizenship or immigration status for an individual, you will not need to do so again.”⁶ The exception is a new household member added later.

What Happens After You Submit

For anyone who declares eligible noncitizen status, the housing agency runs the person’s documents through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system operated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.⁷ PHAs cannot bypass SAVE.⁸

Most SAVE cases return a result within seconds.⁹ When the system cannot confirm your status automatically, the housing agency has 10 days to submit a request for secondary verification, which is a manual records search by USCIS.⁸ Throughout this process, the agency cannot deny, reduce, or terminate your assistance solely because verification is still pending.¹⁰

If Verification Fails

If both the initial and secondary SAVE checks fail to confirm your eligible status, the housing agency has to notify you in writing and tell you about two separate rights: an appeal directly to USCIS, and an informal hearing with the housing agency.¹¹

You have 30 days from the date of the notice to submit a written appeal to USCIS. USCIS then has 30 days after receiving your documentation to issue a decision, and if it needs longer it has to tell you why.¹⁰ While the USCIS appeal is pending, your assistance cannot be denied or terminated on immigration grounds. The same protection applies while an informal hearing with the PHA is still in progress. Assistance is denied only after every appeal and hearing option has run out and gone against you, or if you choose not to use them.¹¹

If the SAVE result looks wrong because of a name mismatch or an outdated record, the appeal is your chance to send corrected documentation directly to USCIS.

Mixed-Status Households and the “Not Contending” Box

A household with at least one eligible member (citizen or eligible noncitizen) and at least one ineligible member is a “mixed-status” family. Mixed families are not automatically disqualified. HUD prorates the housing subsidy so that only the eligible members’ share is paid.¹²

For Section 8 programs, the housing agency figures out what the full subsidy would be if everyone were eligible, then multiplies that by the number of eligible members over the total household size. A family of four with three eligible members receives three-fourths of the subsidy it would otherwise get, and pays the difference.¹³ Public Housing uses a different formula, but the concept is the same. Every person who checks “not contending” reduces the family’s total subsidy.

Signing Under Penalty of Perjury

The declaration is signed under penalty of perjury. The printed warning references 18 U.S.C. 1001, the federal false-statements statute, which makes it a crime to knowingly submit false information to a federal agency. Warning text on many versions of the form cites a fine of up to $10,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.¹⁴ The statute was amended in 1994 to replace the specific dollar figure with the general federal fine schedule, which allows substantially higher fines. The five-year imprisonment cap remains, or up to eight years if the false statement involves terrorism.¹⁵

Beyond the criminal exposure, a false declaration can lead to immediate termination of your assistance and a demand to repay every dollar of subsidy you received while ineligible. Treat the form the way you would treat any statement made directly to a federal agency, because that is what it is.

1
U.S. Government Publishing Office. 42 USC 1436a – Restriction on Use of Assisted Housing
2
Department of Housing and Urban Development. Appendix F – Model Notice of Section 214 Requirements
3
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Appendix 6 – Model Declaration of Section 214 Status
4
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD Declaration of Section 214 Status Form
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 1436a – Restriction on Use of Assisted Housing by Non-Resident Aliens
6
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Owner/Agent Letter Regarding Citizenship and Immigration Status Verification
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. SAVE
8
HUD Exchange. Can a Public Housing Agency (PHA) Bypass the USCIS SAVE Verification Process
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. SAVE CaseCheck
10
eCFR. 24 CFR 5.514 – Delay, Denial, Reduction or Termination of Assistance
11
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. PHA Letter on Citizenship and Immigration Status Verification
12
eCFR. 24 CFR 5.520 – Proration of Assistance
13
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Worksheet – Calculating Pro-Rated Assistance for Mixed Families
14
Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. HUD Declaration of Section 214 Status Form
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally