JayP

My wife received her CR1 visa and we'd like to backpack around the world for a few months before we enter the US for good. The problem is that then we would be entering the US outside the 6 month window of her CR1 visa.

So, we plan on entering the US on her CR1 visa, staying for a week or so, and then taking off on our backpacking trip. We'd probably get back to the US 8 months later.

Are there any hidden gotcha's with our plan? Something we should avoid? Might they not allow her to re-enter the US after 8 months?

Thanks,

James

My wife and I were married last year and I understand that I have the option of filing jointly for 2007 by obtaining an ITIN for her by submitting a W-7 form along with our tax forms.

I'm living in China with her and if we do elect to file jointly, then I wont be able to exclude my foreign income using form 2555 (if we elect to file jointly, then all of our world income is considered US income).

So, I see that we have two choices:

1) Married filing jointly, but without the Foreign earned income deduction.

2) Married filing separately, but this time I can qualify for the foreign earned income deduction.

My question is that if we do married filing separately, do I even need to go through the process of getting her an ITIN and even filing a tax return for her?

Thanks,

JP