The Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment, Rep. Eni Faleomavaega, today advised U.S. citizens and non-citizens with eligible immigration status residing in Samoa that, despite a number of restrictions, they may qualify for certain federal assistance programs. 

“The disaster that struck American Samoa and Samoa has led to terrible hardship for so many people.  While American Samoa has access to a number of U.S. federal disaster assistance programs, U.S. citizens and non-citizens with eligible immigration status living in Samoa may be eligible for certain forms of U.S. Government assistance, depending on their particular circumstances,” Faleomavaega said. 

“The single best way for citizens and those with eligible immigration status residing in Samoa to find out whether they qualify is to go online and take a very brief anonymous prescreening questionnaire.”  The link to the questionnaire can be found at: http://www.disasterassistance.gov/daip_en.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=gbcc_page_foreign&_nfls=false
under the heading “Benefits for American Citizens Affected by an International Disaster.”

 “Those who complete the questionnaire will be provided with a list of potentially available federal programs and brief information on those programs. There are strict guidelines on these programs and no guarantees.  But for those who have suffered as a result of the tsunami, the questionnaire takes only a minute or two and resources are available from the U.S. federal government for those who do qualify.  I urge people to take advantage of these programs, and as always, my staff and I stand ready help in any way we can,” Faleomavaega concluded.