Virginia’s old magnetic-stripe food stamp cards will switch off by themselves 60 days after the new chip card is mailed, even if the new card was never activated, according to the Virginia Department of Social Services. The same state notice carries a harder line on fraud: benefits lost to skimming, cloning or other fraudulent methods cannot be replaced. Food stamps are formally the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and Virginia pays the benefits through an electronic benefit transfer, or EBT, card.
The 60-day clock
The department’s chip card page says: “Your old magnetic stripe card will automatically deactivate 60 days after the new card is mailed.” The clock starts on the mailing date, not the day the envelope reaches the mailbox. A card that spends a week in transit uses up a week of the 60 days.
Benefit amounts and issuance schedules do not change, the department says, and SNAP benefits are not interrupted. The money moves to the new card. The only thing that ends is the old plastic.
When the cards go out
Virginia began with 20 pilot localities, whose SNAP customers were due to receive chip cards by Oct. 1, 2026. They are Chesterfield and Colonial Heights, Fairfax City and County, Lynchburg, Madison, Manassas Park, Middlesex, New Kent, Norfolk, Northampton, Orange, Patrick, Portsmouth, Radford, Richmond City, Roanoke City, Smyth, Surry, Warren, Washington and Wythe.
Everyone else is due to get a card between October and December 2026. The start moved from the first plan. A July 10 department news release said customers would begin receiving chip-enabled cards “starting in September.” The chip card page now describes an October-through-December rollout outside the pilot areas.
Anyone on SNAP in Virginia who has not yet seen a new card is on a schedule that runs through the end of the year, and anyone who has one in hand already has a shutoff date for the old card.
Virginia SNAP households now have a 60-day deadline on the old EBT card, and the state’s renewal and reporting dates keep running beside it. The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer has 51 state packs and a renewal and reporting calendar for tracking both.
Track the card shutoff and SNAP renewal dates with the Renewal Organizer →
Setting up the chip card
The card comes with instructions for activating it and choosing a new PIN. The old PIN does not carry over. The chip card also has a new expiration date and a three-digit security code, which is used for online purchases and for setting up or resetting the PIN. The department recommends changing the PIN often and never sharing it.
The department points customers to its local offices, to the state’s EBT call center at 866-281-2448, and to an email address, [email protected], for questions about the rollout.
What the state will not replace
Skimming means a device on a card reader that copies the card’s data. Cloning means making a copy of the card from that data. Virginia’s page says benefits lost that way “cannot be replaced.” The reason is federal: New Jersey’s Department of Human Services noted in its own chip card announcement that federal authority to replace electronically stolen SNAP benefits ended in December 2024.
Virginia’s page adds several protections. Chip cards are harder to copy than magnetic stripes, and tapping the card is described as the most secure way to pay. The department discourages third-party delivery apps because of a higher skimming risk. It recommends the “lock everywhere” feature in the ConnectEBT app, which keeps the card from working until the owner unlocks it. The July notice also tells customers to check balances and transactions often and to use only the official ConnectEBT app, free from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Replacement cards cost $4.99
A lost, stolen or damaged card can be replaced, but the department says replacement cards cost $4.99, deducted from the EBT account. A household that wants a second card before the old one stops should expect that charge.
If the new card has not come
The mailing date is the number to find. Households that have a chip card envelope can use it, along with any notice that came with it, to count 60 days forward and mark the day on a calendar. Households that expect a card and have heard nothing can call the EBT call center at 866-281-2448 or their local department of social services, and should make sure the state has the right mailing address on file.
Once the card arrives, activating it and setting the PIN right away leaves the most room before the old one goes dark. After that, locking the card in the ConnectEBT app when it is not in use and checking the balance regularly are the steps the state itself recommends. Anyone who sees a charge that was not theirs should report it at once, since the state says lost benefits cannot be put back.
The Virginia Department of Social Services keeps its chip card page as the place for rollout updates.
Old card dead in 60 days, with no refund for skimming
A SNAP household that loses track of the mailing date can find the old card dead and benefits sitting out of reach for days. The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer gives Virginia households a state pack among its 51 and a renewal and reporting calendar, so card deadlines and recertification dates can be tracked together in a 20-page organizer.
Get the Virginia state pack and renewal calendar in the SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
