US Immigration from Japan

I am not sure if I'm on the right place here but I'm confused about our situation.

I got married upon k1visa and I had brought my daughter.

Due to the pandemic, I and my daughter couldn't get SSN after marriage, so we applied for ITIN instead while we are waiting for SSN with green card (I-765).

After 8 week waiting, we got rejected.

The reason for my daughter is that she doesn't qualify for ITIN. It says 'You don't qualify for an ITIN. You are not eligible for one because you didn't meet residency criteria or qualify as an exemption for tax purpose'.

I thought step children qualify for an ITIN. Am I wrong?

If so, my only option is to wait for I-765 approved ?

In my case, it says 'You weren't listed on an attached us federal income tax return, or you were listed as dependent on an attached us federal income tax return but were not claimed for any allowable tax benefit.'

My husband just applied for extension for tax return a couple days ago.

What should we do?

Hello again!

Working on filing the I-130 online using the USCIS website. Do I need to include a cover letter with all my supporting documents? I've seen mixed responses online.

For some background, our case is pretty simple. Got married in Japan. Hubby will stay in Japan while I go back to the US, but we have a joint lease agreement as part of our evidence, and I will provide many photos and text messages.

Speaking of photos, I've also been told on this forum that I should label the photos and give context. Would it be alright to paste the photos in a word document and add a caption to each photo that way?

Sorry for all the questions!