Easier path for undocumented New Yorkers to get COVID aid

Thousands of undocumented New Yorkers hoping to tap into the state’s $2.1 billion COVID “Excluded Workers Fund” will face an easier path after the Internal Revenue Service developed a new process for confirming worker identification, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday.

Under the new IRS system, New Yorkers will be able to collect stamped forms that show they have applied for taxpayer ID numbers, Schumer said. Previously, undocumented New Yorkers faced a lengthy backlog to receive the ID numbers — called ITINs — that unlock access to a slice of the state’s pandemic relief pie.

Schumer, who was joined Tuesday by state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens) and Assemblywoman Carmen De La Rosa (D-Manhattan) to announce the shortcut, said the IRS introduced the alternative after the trio of lawmakers sent a letter to the federal agency in April pleading for an acceleration of ITIN application processing.

The technical IRS procedure will open the door to $15,600 payments for workers long shut out of federal pandemic aid, according to the lawmakers, a significant step in a long-running push for state support that included a hunger strike by immigrants and supporters in March.

Schumer, who said he also phoned the IRS to press for a solution, declared that access to new so-called stamped W-7 forms will allow the state to go from a “big backlog to big help in one day.”

“This is a good victory,” Schumer told reporters under the rumbling No. 7 train at Diversity Plaza in Queens. “This money is not everything, but it’s essential.”

He added that the city needs to open more Taxpayer Assistance Centers where applicants can pick up the stamped W-7 forms. Right now, the city has 14, according to Schumer’s office.

ITINs offer proof that workers have paid taxes in at least one of the last three reporting years, a requirement for access to the fund.

The IRS suggested the new confirmatory forms for pending applications, Schumer said. The IRS didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

Ramos said the fund won’t close the gap in aid facing undocumented New Yorkers, but she promised it will deliver a boost.

“We want to keep people housed,” Ramos said. “We want to keep people fed. We want our kids to have the brightest future possible. And this fund is going to contribute just a little bit.”