Seven groups of adults are excused from SNAP’s three-month time limit, according to the USDA’s page on SNAP work requirements, and the list is shorter and more specific than many summaries suggest. Veterans are on it. So are people experiencing homelessness, and so is any adult whose SNAP household includes someone under 18.

The time limit and the 80-hour test

The time limit applies to a narrow group the program calls ABAWDs, short for able-bodied adults without dependents. As the USDA page describes them, they are adults aged 18 to 54 who are able to work and have no dependents. Such an adult can receive SNAP for only three months in three years unless the work requirement is met. The test is work, a work program, or a combination of the two totaling at least 80 hours a month. The page says the work can be paid, done for goods or services instead of money, unpaid, or done as a volunteer, and that completing assigned workfare hours also counts.

That 80-hour standard is separate from the program’s general work rules, which cover a wider age band of 16 to 59 and ask for things like registering for work and not quitting a job or cutting hours below 30 a week without good cause. The two lists are easy to blur, and the difference matters because each has its own exemptions.

For a household, the practical question is narrow: is there an adult aged 18 to 54 with no dependents who has been on SNAP, and does that adult fit one of the seven categories listed below? The page defines the group as ages 18 to 54, so adults outside that range fall outside the ABAWD rule as described. Adults who fit none of the seven have to document 80 hours a month or watch the three-month clock.

Sorting a household against that list is the job The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer takes on, with a section on the SNAP work-rule time limit and who is exempt.

See the SNAP exemption list organized by household →

All seven ABAWD exemptions

The USDA page lists these seven as excused from the ABAWD work requirement and time limit:

• People unable to work because of a physical or mental limitation
• People who are pregnant
• Anyone with someone under 18 in their SNAP household
• People excused from the general work requirements
• Veterans
• People experiencing homelessness
• People age 24 or younger who were in foster care on their 18th birthday

Two details deserve a careful read. The child-related exemption turns on a person under 18 being in the SNAP household, which is the page’s wording, rather than on whether the adult is the parent. And the fourth item is really a pointer: it sends the reader back to the general work-rule exemptions, so a household that qualifies for one of those is also out from under the time limit.

The six general work-rule exemptions behind item four

The general list, also on the USDA page, excuses people who are already working at least 30 hours a week or earning the federal minimum wage multiplied by 30 hours; people meeting work requirements through TANF or unemployment compensation; people caring for a child under six or an incapacitated person; people unable to work because of a physical or mental limitation; people in an alcohol or drug treatment program; and people studying in school or a training program at least half-time. That makes six on the general list and seven on the ABAWD list. An earlier count of eleven, including one we published, matches neither list, and the two lists together run to thirteen entries with the physical or mental limitation appearing on both.

What the 2025 law may change, and what the page says now

The USDA page, last updated July 16, 2026, carries a notice that the agency is “in the process of providing guidance on how The One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 changes the work requirements for SNAP able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs).” In plain terms, the exemption lists above are the ones the page currently publishes, and the agency has said further guidance on the exemption and waiver rules is still coming. A household relying on a specific exemption, such as veteran status, would do well to confirm it against the current page and the state agency before assuming it still applies in the same form.

The state SNAP agency is the office a household deals with directly. The USDA page says it is the state agency that assigns SNAP Employment and Training or workfare, so questions about a particular case go there.

Documents that settle an exemption claim

The free route is to read the full rules on the USDA SNAP work requirements page and then ask the state SNAP agency which exemption it has on file. Compare the household’s situation to the seven ABAWD categories and, for item four, the six general ones.

Evidence tends to be what decides these cases. For a physical or mental limitation, that means medical documentation; for veteran status, discharge papers or a benefits letter; for homelessness, whatever the state agency accepts, which varies; for a child in the household, the household composition on the SNAP case. Keep copies of each, and note the month the three-month clock started and any months of 80 hours already logged.

Pairing the exemption list with a calendar is what keeps a clock from running unnoticed, and The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer includes both the SNAP work-rule time limit and who is exempt and a renewal and reporting calendar.

Get The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer for the time-limit exemptions →

This piece was drafted with AI assistance; the figures and dates were checked against the USDA SNAP work requirements page linked above.