The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s public SNAP page on work requirements still describes the time limit as applying to adults aged 18 to 54. That is out of step with a USDA memo dated October 3, 2025, which says people aged 18 to 64 are now subject to the limit. The page, which USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service marks as updated July 16, 2026, also still lists veterans and people experiencing homelessness among those excused.
What the public page prints today
The page’s work-requirement section opens: “If you are age 18–54, able to work, and don’t have any dependents, you might need to meet both the general work requirements” and an added requirement for able-bodied adults without dependents, known as ABAWDs. The additional rule, the page says, applies to getting SNAP “for more than three months in three years.” It adds that anyone who has to meet the ABAWD rule and does not will lose benefits after three months.
Its list of people excused from the ABAWD rule and time limit includes people who are unable to work because of a physical or mental limitation, who are pregnant, who have someone under 18 in the SNAP household, who are veterans, who are experiencing homelessness, and who are 24 or younger and were in foster care on their 18th birthday. The page contains no mention of age 64 anywhere.
USDA does flag that the page is behind. A notice on it says: “We are in the process of providing guidance on how The One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 changes” the ABAWD rules, including “changes to the ABAWD exception criteria and ABAWD waiver criteria,” and promises that “We will update this page once the guidance is released.”
Which age band applies at a state office
The rule a household actually faces is the one the state agency applies, and the state is working from the memo. That puts a SNAP recipient in the 55-to-64 range, or a veteran, or someone who is homeless, in a position where the federal website and the state’s screening could point in opposite directions.
The question many readers will have is which age band applies to them, the website’s or the memo’s. Under the memo, anyone from 18 through 64 without dependents and without another exception is subject to the time limit, with the exceptions as the memo now lists them. Anyone aged 55 or older who has been told the time limit stops at 54, anyone who was excused as a veteran or because of homelessness, and anyone who was excused as a young adult who had been in foster care should look at the next recertification or notice with that in mind.
For a SNAP household in the 55-to-64 range, USDA’s own page says one thing and its memo says another, and a missed work-rule exemption can end benefits after three months. The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer covers the SNAP work-rule time limit and who is exempt, state by state.
Check the age 64 time limit and exemptions in the renewal organizer →
What the October 3, 2025 memo says
The guidance the page says is coming has been out for a year. The implementation memorandum, signed by Ronald Ward, Acting Associate Administrator for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program at USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, is dated October 3, 2025. It says “individuals aged 18 to 64 are now subject to the time limit, unless they meet another exception,” and that the changes “were effective upon enactment, July 4, 2025.”
The memo removes the temporary exceptions for homeless individuals, veterans, and people 24 or younger who were in foster care on their 18th birthday. Those are three of the groups the public page still lists as excused. It adds new exceptions for Indians, Urban Indians and California Indians. It also narrows the parent exception: a parent or other household member with responsibility for a dependent child is excepted only for children under 14, where the public page says someone under 18 in the household.
The memo tells states that they “must immediately screen for and apply the modified exception criteria.” It says USDA would, as appropriate, hold states harmless for quality control purposes for 120 days. USDA keeps the memo on a separate implementation page, which the agency shows as updated September 15, 2026.
Why the gap matters for benefits
The time limit is the difference between SNAP continuing and stopping. The public page states the consequence plainly: a person who must meet the ABAWD requirement and does not loses benefits after three months. To get SNAP again, the page says, the person must meet the ABAWD work requirement for a 30-day period or become excused. The page says a person can meet the requirement by working or taking part in qualifying activities, with the details on the page.
A 59-year-old who counted on an age cutoff, or a veteran who counted on an exemption, would be affected without any change to the website. The memo says the changes took effect July 4, 2025, and that the exclusionary period ended November 1, 2025, so the new criteria have been the working rule for states for most of a year.
Confirming the rule at the next SNAP review
The page to start from is USDA’s own work-requirements page, read together with its notice that the OBBBA changes are not yet reflected. The authoritative statement of the current age range and exceptions is the October 3, 2025 memo, and the state SNAP office is the place that applies it to a specific household.
Ahead of a recertification or a work-rule notice, it helps to gather proof of any exception: a discharge record for a veteran, a letter from a shelter or caseworker for homelessness, a doctor’s note for a physical or mental limitation, birth dates and school records for children in the household, and records of any hours worked. The questions to put to the caseworker are which exceptions the state is applying now, whether the household is counted as 18 to 64, and when the three-month clock started.
The SNAP time limit now runs to age 64
A SNAP recipient aged 55 to 64, or a veteran or person experiencing homelessness who was excused before, can lose benefits after three months if the state applies the October 3, 2025 memo and the household relied on the old webpage. The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer lays out the SNAP work-rule time limit and who is exempt, along with a renewal document checklist and a renewal and reporting calendar.
Get the work-rule exemptions and renewal calendar in one organizer →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
