Mr and Mrs S

6 hours ago, Madiha Khurshid said:

I am from Karachi, I need to visit ( US Consulate General Karachi ) Is that correct? 

Do I need to explain why I want an ITIN, and is this an interview?

I don't think they'll ask why you need the ITIN. Make an appointment with the US consulate in Karachi over the phone. Tell them you need to get the copy of your passport certified for form w7. 

This will not be a visa interview. 

7 minutes ago, M.Hamza said:

Thanks for you reply Sir. Will they also stamped on my W-7 form ?

after that i only have to mail my documents and w-7 form?

I don't remember if they stamped the form or not. However, I do remember them signing the W7 form.

In my particular situation, mailing the form was all I had to do. You might want to look up the instructions for the form W7 to see if you need to do something different based on your situation https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw7

On 1/30/2020 at 8:59 AM, CH Saab said:

1. Make an appointment at link below 

https://evisaforms.state.gov/acs/default.asp?postcode=KRC&appcode=1

2. Print appointment letter to take with you on appointment date.

3. Take original  passport & Pakistani ID with you

4. They charge $50 per stamp you can pay with USD or PKR but their exchange rate is around RS-/165 

 

See stamp sample below

 

@M.Hamza I followed the steps above to get a certified copy of wife's Passport. I was in the US and was able to complete the rest of the process here (mailing the W7).

I don't think the US Consulate in Karachi acts as an acceptance agent. You'll have to fill the W7 yourself and they can stamp the copy of your passport and W7 for a fee.

9 hours ago, ntur said:

Did you file married filing jointly or married filing separately?  I chose married filing separately and included the W-7 for my spouse.  The W-7 was denied since my spouse did not complete the 1040 for himself - he has no income to claim.  Still waiting on my form to be processed.  Hope all goes well for you.

Filing joint might have increased your return as long as your husband did not have income above a certain thresh hold. When filing jointly the non-American spouses foreign income does have to be recorded in the 1040 but most of the time you can claim a foreign income exclusion to where you do not have to pay taxes on that income.

6 hours ago, ntur said:

Did you file married filing jointly or married filing separately?  I chose married filing separately and included the W-7 for my spouse.  The W-7 was denied since my spouse did not complete the 1040 for himself - he has no income to claim.  Still waiting on my form to be processed.  Hope all goes well for you.

I filed jointly. 

My wife's ITIN arrived in the mail last week. I had responded to the CP566 with two copied of her passport; one notarized by the same US consulate that notarized the copy the first time around and another certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Pakistan.

The documents I sent the second time around were sent back separately a few days after the ITIN arrived. The copy of the passport I sent the first time around never made it back. 

On 9/17/2020 at 11:10 AM, SL & TB said:

Yes. Civil documents and petitioner's affidavit of support stuff and taxes etc. Nothing other than that

Tax transcript for the year 2018 or the year 2019?

Is ds 5540 still a thing? I have not been following all the lawsuits around Public charge and was wondering if anyone here knew something.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/update-on-public-charge.html

10 minutes ago, Juliet57 said:

Hi, one more month, Juarez still hasn't started processing immediate relative visas other than emergency ones. 

They started with student visas though

Same for Islamabad. The embassy is only processing emergency visas and cases already in AP.

Just now, Vermyndax said:

Sounds like I should just let it ride then. 

Can't say really.

@CH Saab

Just now, Vermyndax said:

Correct... and then we just re-file the copy with the new SSN?

Correct. If they file you as Married filing single you can amend your return using her SSN.

Just now, Vermyndax said:

Same. I filed our taxes in March and just got this notice.

 

It sounds like our best option is to just let them reject the W-7 and process the return without an ITIN, then file for a new ITIN after she gets here on the visa and we can safely send the original passport.

You don't need an ITIN when your spouse enters the USA. She can apply for a SSN at that point.

23 minutes ago, Vermyndax said:

I just got the same notice. We had a certified true copy of my wife’s passport because she is still overseas, awaiting for the visa interview (we have cleared NVC, but due to the pandemic we have no idea when the interview will take place).

 

It looks like IRS changed their rules so that they will no longer accept certified true copies of the documents and are demanding the original passport. This is a big problem for us because her passport is still overseas with her. I’m not comfortable with having her mail the passport here and submit it to IRS for an unknown period of time while we’re waiting for a visa interview to be scheduled.

 

I came here to write up a post about this very subject, so I can I’ll “me too” this post and track it.

 

Right now, I’m just formulating options - but it looks like we could:

• Mail her passport here and submit it to IRS, thereby rolling the dice on when the interviews will take place and the location of her passport at that time.
• Re-file the taxes so they are Head of Household or “married filing separately.”
• Ignore the notice, ignore the taxes, and just file them again after my wife gets here since they owe us money anyway.

We’re leaning toward options 2 and 3 right now. I’m just not comfortable with mailing the passport here, then to the IRS, then back to Philippines and pray that the interview doesn’t get scheduled.

 

I really feel like they’ve changed the ITIN rules under our noses. What’s really odd to me is that my state already processed our taxes and gave us the refund that is due to us.

 

I’ll track this discussion as we all continue to figure this out together.

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Re-file the taxes so they are Head of Household or “married filing separately.”

Re-filing does not sound like a great idea as they already got a tax return from us. I can't really find anything on what will happen to that return if the W7 ends up getting rejected? 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/understanding-your-cp567-notice

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What happens to the tax return I sent with the application?
We'll process your return without an ITIN. You'll need to reapply for an ITIN and attach a copy of the return to your application to get a refund.

 

Do I need to file a new tax return when I reapply?
No. Just attach a copy of it to the application. Indicate it is a copy. Send the application with your paperwork to the address on the notice.

The lady I talked to on the phone (the helpful one) said since this is an application for a new ITIN they would process my return after making some changes. I don't know if I should believe her. She was friendly and helpful but that doesn't mean she know exactly what she was talking about.

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Ignore the notice, ignore the taxes, and just file them again after my wife gets here since they owe us money anyway.

I like this idea. The problem with this idea is, possibly no tax transcript. The people at my embassy like tax transcripts more than the tax return documents (the 1040 form does not guarantee your taxes were accepted).

I was worried if I would be able to file my 2020 return if something was wrong with my 2019 return. It doesn't seem like I am prohibited from filing a current year's returns if I had not filed in the past. That is not an issue. I might have have to sent a written request saying I don't want to file jointly with my foreign spouse. https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-alien-spouse#:~:text=If your spouse is a,must complete Form SS-5.. This is assuming the scenario where my wife is not in the country by April 2021.

We don't have state taxes here in Texas. The Cp566 is the first document I received from IRS since I mailed my return in March.

3 minutes ago, H&T said:

I think this is the problem.

That's what the IRS faq page, and the 2 agents I talked to said. What is the alternative? I have been scouring the internet to find information on whether there is process for getting a certified copy of the Pakistani passport from the issuing agency but to no avail.

I filed for my wife's ITIN by sending in a form W7 alongside my Tax Return. We used a copy of my wife's passport, attested by the US consulate in Karachi, as an identity document.

We received the following notice.

I called the IRS twice and both times was told they could not give me information on my wife's w7 unless I had signed on it as her delegate. I had not. I will ask her to call them tomorrow (she is sleeping right now, time zones, fun)

The first lady didn't say much and I didn't have great questions.

I asked the second lady what would happen if I failed to send in the correct supporting documents (didn't send them or sent the wrong ones). She said they would change things on my return and file it MFS. 

Was she correct? Would the IRS just file my taxes MFS if I can't get the right documents (I would not mind this). Less of a refund but I don't think I owe anything (I calculated my taxes single also).

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/itin-updated-procedures-frequently-asked-questions

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A notarized document is one that the taxpayer provides to a public notary who bears witness to the signing of the official document and affixes a seal assuring that the document is legitimate. These documents will not be accepted for ITIN applications. Note there are some applicants who are exempt from this change.

The US consulate notarized my documents which is probably why they were rejected. Does anyone know where I would get my wife passport certified (she is in Pakistan)?

According to IRS:

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A certified document is one that the original issuing agency provides and certifies as an exact copy of the original document and contains an official stamped seal from the Agency.

I don't feel great about having my wife send her passport in the mail, then me sending it to Austin.  I would like to avoid that option. We are awaiting her interview as soon as the embassy in Islamabad opens (could be next month, could be next year) and would need here passport for that. I don't imagine getting a replacement passport would be an easy task if it gets lost in the mail.

Any help, ideas would be appreciated.

23 hours ago, F&S2018 said:

My husband’s case has been in AP for a year and 3 months. We got email for oath and fingerprints and are told to bring a new medical. 

They are open, I think working on family/spouses cases. I’ve heard they’ve been clearing out a lot of older cases. 

This is wonderful news. Hope you get to be with your husband soon. 

On 4/26/2020 at 1:47 PM, Wuozopo said:

If you file for 2019 and include the child with ITIN, then no payment to either of you based on 2019 return. If she gets a SSN in time and you file with it, then both of you would qualify.

 

 

I applied for my wife's ITIN as part of my 2019 return (return and W-7 mailed March 10, ITIN not received yet). IRS deposited the stimulus money (just for me, one person) into my account on April 15th. My guess is they used my 2018 return (filed single with my SSN) to determine my eligibility as my 2019 return either got lost or has either not been processed yet(ITIN estimates the processing time for ITIN to be 9 to 11 weeks during peek season, no pandemic going on).

Let's see if they make me return the money since my 2019 return will have an ITIN on it.

I did not know about the ITIN restriction until I read a news piece about it on nytimes just now. The news piece is mostly about how the language of the bill is affecting people married to undocumented immigrants but seems it'll affect the documented as well.

13 minutes ago, cd37 said:

I would interpret it exactly how it is written,” temperory suspension” but the way people have been commenting here is exaggeration without knowing all the details.

Being alive is temporary. Some people live for a day (unfortunately) and others live past a hundred years. 

He did not define what he meant by temporary. Does temporary mean until Jan 2021, Jan 2022, Jan 2023, or you get the point? 

3 minutes ago, cd37 said:

I am not, I can only read what he writes, you guys have all insights and figured out meaning of all his tweets.  

An excerpt from his tweet which has everyone worried, "I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States."

It's clear as daylight. Embassies are closed already. He wants to slow down the process further, it seems.

Maybe he should not use twitter to announce his policy decisions. I would much appreciate something more detailed. However, this is all we have to work with.

How do you interpret this? What do you think he is saying or trying to say?

It also, depends on where you are flying to\flying from. Some places will recover faster than others and will try to limit covid influx from places lagging behind.

11 minutes ago, Anishatt said:

How long take for approved case to be sent to the embassy?

Which country is the application for? A number of embassies are cancelling immigrant and non immigrant visa interview appointments. Even if the embassy for your country is open things are just too unpredictable and fluid right now to predict anything.

3 hours ago, dwheels76 said:

http://islamabad.usembassy.gov/contact-information/visa-inquiries.html

1 hour ago, stech786 said:

Link is incorrect 

https://pk.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visa-inquiries/

Use this link

2 minutes ago, SFA14 said:

That means yours is still scheduled and not cancelled?

I don't know. We'll try contacting them when it's time to make travel arrangements. The situation changes fast with this virus. 

4 hours ago, SFA14 said:

Are they cancelling already scheduled immigrant visa appointments for US Citizen spouses in US Embassy, Islamabad?

Were you able to contact?

 

Were you scheduled for April? Did they cancel any schedule appointments?

My interview was scheduled for early April. I have not received any communication regarding my interview. 

I have not tried contacting the us embassy yet.