Can undocumented people receive the second Golden State Stimulus check in California?
Gov. Gavin Newsom has passed the state's new budget which includes a stimulus package worth more than $100 billion, with another round of stimulus checks on offer.
On Monday California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the state’s 2021/22 budget into law, which included funding for the biggest recovery package in the Golden State’s history: the California Comeback Plan.
Upon passing the new budget, Newsom said the state was focusing on “taking on the inequities laid bare by the pandemic, expanding our support for Californians facing the greatest hardships, increasing opportunity for every child, confronting homelessness head-on.”
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The $100 billion package builds on the Golden State Stimulus bill which was passed earlier this year, and extends some of the programme included in it to more people. Roughly two-thirds of all residents are now thought to be eligible for the Golden State Stimulus checks, but does this include undocumented workers and their families?
California Comeback Plan provides more stimulus checks for undocumented workers
The new relief package passed earlier this week will extend the original $600 stimulus checks to more Californians, but also provides additional payments for some who had already received a Golden State Stimulus check.
The first California state stimulus bill that was passed earlier this year provided a direct payment for low-income residents who qualified for the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC), or who file taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).
ITINs are used by undocumented workers who do not have a Social Security number but who are still required to pay taxes in the United States. This group had been excluded from previous rounds of federal stimulus checks but the state of California provided them with a payment of $600, or $1,200 if they also qualified for CalEITC, earlier this year.
If you use an ITIN to file taxes and claimed at least one dependent on your most recent tax return you will receive another $1,000 from the California Comeback Plan. In total, undocumented workers in the US could receive up to $2,200 from the two rounds of Golden State Stimulus checks, including the $1,200 sent to ITIN-filing CalEITC recipients from the first round.
If you have not received a stimulus check but believe you should be entitled to one it may be because you have not yet filed taxes for 2020. If this is the case you have until 15 October 2021 to submit your filing and trigger payment of the new California stimulus check.