| Photo by Jornal Dacidede on Unsplash
NEW YORK—The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated its Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program on April 1, 2025, to enhance voter eligibility verification for state and local governments. It has partnered with federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local government agencies to implement the updated SAVE program. These agencies use SAVE to verify immigration status and U.S. citizenship for various benefits, including voter registration and voter list maintenance.
The update introduced bulk submissions of citizenship verification via Social Security numbers to ensure a single, reliable source for verifying immigration status and U.S. citizenship nationwide. State and local authorities can input Social Security numbers to help verify U.S. citizenship and prevent aliens from voting in American elections.
The key features of the SAVE program include:
- Agencies can now input Social Security numbers to verify U.S. citizenship, making the process more efficient.
- For the first time, agencies can submit multiple cases simultaneously, streamlining verification.
- As of April 1, 2025, USCIS eliminated all charges for state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies using SAVE.
- The program aligns with Executive Order 14248, which aims to preserve and protect the integrity of American elections.
“For years, states have pleaded for tools to help identify and stop aliens from hijacking our elections,” said USCIS Spokesman Matthew Tragesser. “Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, USCIS is moving quickly to eliminate voter fraud. We expect further improvements soon and remain committed to restoring trust in American elections.”
This new partnership with the Social Security Administration allows cases to verify citizenship or immigration status to be created using Social Security numbers rather than a DHS identifying number, which most state and local agencies do not collect. Also, for the first time, agencies can submit more than one case at a time, making the process more efficient.
USCIS has encouraged state and local governments to register for SAVE to verify lawful voter eligibility.
The SAVE program was initially launched in 1987 by USCIS to help government agencies verify immigration status for benefits eligibility. Over the years, it has expanded to include voter registration verification.
Some states have already integrated SAVE into their voter registration systems, while others still evaluate its impact..
