The SAVE Program, as outlined by the federal government…the same federal government charged with securing our borders and enforcing our laws.
Welcome to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program page. The SAVE Program is responsible for administering programs involving customer access to information contained in the Verification Information System (VIS) database. This database is a nationally accessible database of selected immigration status information on over 60 million records.

The SAVE Program enables Federal, state, and local government agencies and licensing bureaus to obtain immigration status information they need in order to determine a non-citizen applicant’s eligibility for many public benefits. The SAVE Program also administers employment verification pilot programs that enable employers to quickly and easily verify the work authorization of their newly hired employees.

Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program

Immigration Status Verification for Benefit Issuing Agencies

The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program is an intergovernmental information-sharing initiative designed to aid eligibility workers in determining a non-citizen applicant’s immigration status, and thereby ensure that only entitled non-citizen applicants receive Federal, state, or local public benefits and licenses. The SAVE Program is an information service for benefit issuing agencies, institutions, licensing bureaus, and other entities. The SAVE Program does not make determinations on any non-citizen applicant’s eligibility for a specific benefit or license.

LEGAL BASIS

Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), P.L. 99-603, which required the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (now Department of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 1, 2003) to establish a system for verifying the immigration status of non-citizen applicants for, and recipients of, certain types of federally funded benefits, and to make the system available to Federal, state, and local benefit issuing agencies and institutions that administer such benefits. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the DHS agency responsible for administering the SAVE Program. The IRCA, as amended, mandates the following programs and overseeing agencies to participate in the verification of an applicant’s immigration status: the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Program, the Medicaid Program, and certain Territorial Assistance Programs (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services); the Unemployment Compensation Program (U.S. Department of Labor); Title IV Educational Assistance Programs (U.S. Department of Education); and certain Housing Assistance Programs (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development).

More here.