The King County Relief Fund will open on September 6th.

There is no application due date. The application will remain open until funds run out.

You will need legible documents that confirm your identity and King County residency. The table below provides examples of documents you can use. Please ensure you have a clear copy of one item from List A OR one item from both List B and List C. 

Click to view the Required Documents

Yes. Each eligible person must complete their own individual application.  

However, you will be asked to provide information about the number of adults and children in your household. This information is used exclusively to determine your household income. Your household includes the people who share bills (food, expenses, etc.) with you or rely on you for financial support or whom you financially support.

Applications are submitted individually. Each eligible person should submit their own application. Applicants must be at least 16 years of age to apply. 

However, you will be asked to provide information about the number of adults and children in your household. This information is used exclusively to determine your household income. Your household includes the people who share bills (food, expenses, etc.) with you or rely on you for financial support or whom you financially support.

Each person who is eligible for the fund can apply, and must complete their own individual application.

We are only able to offer the application through this online portal that you can complete via an Internet-connected computer or mobile device.  

For application assistance please contact the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network at 1 (844) 724-3737 OR one of our other partner organizations.

Please give all applicants their Submission ID and tell them to write it down and/or take a photo and save it somewhere. This number is very important to track the status of their application.

If you need to update or correct an error on your application after it has been submitted, please submit a new application with your updated information.

Due to the anticipated high number of applications, there will not be an appeal process. 

If your household submits multiple applications by mistake, Scholar Fund (Scholarship Junkies) will be able to identify that multiple applications from the same household were submitted and will review the application that conveys the higher need. They may also contact applicants via phone or text if they detect application issues. 

We will be reviewing applications on a weekly basis. Notifications will go out to the email address linked to your account and via text message after your application has been reviewed. You may look up the status of your application at any time at https://www.kingcountyrelief.org/status. Please be patient as we are reviewing applications and prioritizing funding those with the highest need. 

You can apply to receive a one-time direct payment of $1,000 per eligible person. You can receive the money as a check, gift card (Visa), or ACH, which is a direct deposit into your bank account.

Eligible applicants are only able to receive a one-time payment. 

Payments will be released to the community in weekly intervals starting after September 20th. Checks and gift cards mailed may take longer to receive and we expect everyone will receive payment within 14 days after you have been given your award notice.

There are three options for receiving payments: Check, Direct Deposit (ACH), or a Physical Gift Card.

Yes. Residence address is used to show residency in King County. A mailing address could be a P.O. box or any address where you receive their mail and/or feel more comfortable receiving it, as long as the address is within Washington.

Yes, you can change your form of payment after you have been approved. Please contact Scholar Fund at 206-203-6536 or at payments@kingcountyrelief.org with your name, submission ID, and what form of payment you would prefer.

You are able to retrieve funds from an ATM using your gift card, but you may be subject to a withdrawal fee or limit depending on the ATM. 

No. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), “disaster relief" benefits, such as this program, will not be considered in determining whether an individual is a public charge. You can also read this USCIS Public Charge Fact Sheet for more information. If you have questions about your immigration status and/or use of benefits, you should speak with an immigration attorney or DOJ-accredited representative. 

Receiving financial aid from the King County Relief Fund for Immigrants will not impact your ability to become a U.S. citizen. It will also not impact the ability of a lawful permanent resident/green card holder family member to become a U.S. citizen. If you have questions about your immigration status and/or use of benefits, you should speak with an immigration attorney or DOJ-accredited representative. 

No, all payments are made as grants and classified as disaster relief under the IRS and should not be included as taxable income.

The nonprofit organization Scholar Fund (Scholarship Junkies) does not voluntarily share your data with government entities, including King County. Scholar Fund is responsible for collecting the personal information you voluntarily submit on the online application for the King County Relief Fund. To help prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, Scholar Fund (Scholarship Junkies) has instituted appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information they collect. You can learn more about the Scholarship Junkies comprehensive Privacy Policy here (English only). 

Personal information will never be voluntarily shared with the government, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE, other law enforcement, your landlord, your employer, or anyone else. All information is stored securely in an encrypted format so it cannot be accessed.
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According to our contract with King County, the only people with access to an applicant’s personal information are Scholar Fund (Scholarship Junkies, the community organization that manages the fund). We will not share your information with anyone else. But if there is a legal subpoena, we may be legally required to release personal information. It’s unlikely that this would happen, but not impossible.

Demographic questions are asked to better understand who we are serving with the King County Immigration Fee Support program. Your answers will have no effect on your eligibility, and you can choose not to disclose any demographic information. The information you provide will never be shared with King County or any other government agency with your name attached to it.

If you discover that an applicant has been approved and/or funded multiple times, please notify Scholar Fund at 206-203-6536 or support@kingcountyrelief.org. If applicants apply using different names or slightly different information, it makes deduplication difficult. However, we can stop payment if it has not been cashed.