Food stamps (SNAP) in
Virginia.

USDA approved Virginia's request to drop sweetened beverages from SNAP on December 10, 2025, as a two-year demonstration first set to start April 1, 2026. On February 25, 2026 USDA agreed to move the start to October 1, 2026, and VDSS says registers stop taking SNAP for the drinks on November 1, 2026.

The list is short: soda, diet soda, zero-sugar soda, carbonated energy drinks, and carbonated drinks with 5 grams or more of added sugar per serving. Juice, milk, lemonade, iced tea and coffee, sports drinks, kombucha, unsweetened seltzer, non-carbonated energy drinks and infant formula stay eligible.

Food items do not change, and neither does your benefit amount or deposit date. The rule covers every SNAP purchase at a Virginia store or online retailer, including cards from other states. You can still buy soda in the same trip with other money. Questions go to SNAPHealthy@dss.virginia.gov.

VDSS started mailing chip-enabled EBT cards in September 2026 and says every Virginia cardholder will have one by December 31, 2026. You tap or insert the new card instead of swiping, and it carries an expiration date and a three-digit security code used for online orders and PIN resets.

The old magnetic-stripe card stops working once you activate the chip card, or 60 days after the new one is mailed, whichever comes first. You choose a new PIN for each new card. Keep your address and phone number current with the local office so the card reaches you.

VaCAP, which streamlined SNAP for older SSI recipients and paid a fixed amount, ended June 1, 2026. Those cases move to the Elderly Simplified Application Project at their next recertification, keep certification periods of up to 36 months, and now get a benefit figured from income and costs.

ESAP covers homes where every eligible member is 60 or older and nobody has earnings. VDSS checks income through data matches, applies a standard medical deduction once $35 a month in medical costs is shown, and skips interim reports. Renewal interviews happen only if you ask, things change, or the case would close.

The federal law signed July 4, 2025 raised the time limit's upper age from 55 to 65 and narrowed the child exemption to homes with a child under 14. Job-market waivers ended, and from November 1, 2025 veterans, homeless adults and former foster youth 18 to 24 lost their automatic exemptions.

You stay exempt if you are pregnant, cannot work for medical reasons, care for someone sick or disabled, work 20 hours a week, get or applied for unemployment, are in VIEW, WIOA or Trade Adjustment Assistance, attend school half time, or are in addiction treatment. Tell your benefit programs specialist.

Cases certified 7 months or longer file a midpoint Interim Report, ESAP cases aside. Otherwise, a household certified for 5 months or more reports just three things: income going over its gross limit, lottery or gambling winnings of $4,750 or more (the FY2027 federal figure; Transmittal 36 still shows $4,500), or a time-limited adult dropping below 20 work hours a week.

Report within 10 days of the change, or by the 10th of the following month at the latest, using the Change Report form, CommonHelp, a phone call or a visit. A mailed report counts as on time if the postmark falls inside the 10 days. A new address must come with proof of the new rent to keep the shelter deduction.

For SNAP you have 90 days from the notice to appeal, and a current recipient who thinks the amount is too low can appeal at any time. File through CommonHelp, by email to appeals@dss.virginia.gov, by calling 1-800-552-7096, by fax to 804-726-7656, or by mail to the unit at 5600 Cox Road, Glen Allen, VA 23060.

To keep benefits during the appeal, file before the local agency acts, or within 10 days of a notice that took effect at once. That does not apply to a cut made at renewal, and you may owe back what you got if you lose. The hearing is by phone, with at least 10 days' notice and a decision mailed within 60 days.