bcagney

Hi guys,

My wife just received her biometrics appointment date but cannot make it that day. Are we able to reschedule it for a specific day? The instructions on the letter don't seem to allow for that, just a general reschedule whenever another appointment is available. Or is it possible to just walk in? Her preference would be to get it done the week before what is currently scheduled.

thanks!

Thanks for the help Vanessa. We decided to just take care of the name change over there. I guess it only takes 3-5 days or it can be expedited (24 hrs). Hopefully we'll have time to get the passport done too.

You said she'll need her DL for the passport. Does that need to be updated with her new name as well?

What state is she from in Australia? I'll be able to answer if I know that. She SHOULD (I looked into that option) but how depends on state.

WA

Can the name change be done from the US? If so, maybe she could get that taken care of before we leave, then get the new passport when we're there.

Trust me when i say, this will NOT be a problem. I too travelled with my ticket in married name, passport in maiden. Her GC is proof of name as the ticket needs to match government-isssued photo ID, which the GC is (there's a link in my signature about it). I checked in using my maiden name passport and then showed GC to check in, no problem. I went through security and showed my GC and ticket, no problems. I didn't encounter any issues. I did it last year in October.

Qn, how long ago were you married? The reason I ask is because she is entitled to a gratis (free) passport to update her married name, which I was able to obtain in less than a month (while I was in Aus) but it will require some pre-planning which I can help her with if you like.

Great, sounds like we shouldn't have any trouble. But, I think we'll bring our marriage certificate just in case.

She does plan on getting a new passport when we're there. We'll be there for 3 1/2 weeks; is that enough time? What pre-planning will we have to do? Is it something we can/should start here in the US before we leave?

One more question...when you traveled last October, was that on your conditional green card? Are there any special requirements for that (re-entry permit...etc)? From what I understand, there is no difference between the conditional green card and the 10-year card when it comes to traveling, but just curious if you ran into any problems.

Thanks for the responses everyone.

My apologies if this has been answered here before.

My wife and I will be traveling to her home country of Australia for a month over Christmas. Her Australian passport still has her maiden name on it, while her green card has her married name. When I purchased our airline tickets several months ago it didn't even cross my mind that we might have a problem, so the name on her airline ticket matches her green card but not her passport.

Are we going to run into any problems with the passport not matching the green card and her name registered with the airline? We're leaving mid-December so it's unlikely we could get her passport changed in time, and airlines don't allow changing names on tickets. The only problems I can see now would be when we check in initially and then entering the US on our way back.

Thanks!

I agree, what they're saying on the other forum is not making sense. It seems like they are saying that the qualifying exclusion period goes back to 2008, but really we would only be excluding income from 2009. The only reason we would even be looking at 2008 would be to meet either the Bonafide Residence Test or the Physical Presence Test, correct? It seems like they are mixing up the "test periods" with the exclusion period...is that how you interpreted it as well?

I've filled in the 2555-EZ and want to make sure I'm doing it right. What test should I say she meets, because I think she would meet both. Would the bonafide residence period be from her birthdate up to the day she left Australia? The physical presence test seems like it would be more for U.S. citizens, but she would meet those requirements too. The only reason I'm considering the physical presence test is because one of the posters on the other forum said she wouldn't meet the bonafide residence test.

One more...line 11a asks for tax home and dates established. Is this the exclusion period or something else? Jan 2009 to April 2009? And what do we put in for "Date left U.S."? She's still here so would something like N/A or Continues be OK?

Once again, thanks for your help with this.

I asked this same question on the forums at www.visataxes.com. They seem to think that we don't qualify for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, and would have to take the Foreign Tax Credit instead. Based on what I've read here on visajourney, it seems as though everyone claims the exclusion. Not sure what we're going to do yet, but I'm leaning towards the exclusion since everyone on here goes that route. If anyone is interested, here is the link to the thread:

http://forum.visataxes.com/glossary-non-resident-taxation-substantial-presence-test-dual-status-alien-etc-explained/3547-resident-nonresident-foreign-earned-income-exclusion.html

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks

First of all, thanks to everyone for the responses to my tax extension question. My wife is due to receive her SSN in a few days, so it looks like we will be able to meet the April 15th filing deadline anyway. So, here's the next one...

A little background info: She is from Australia and their tax year ran from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009. She worked that period up until April 2009, arriving here in the U.S. in May 2009.

My first question is regarding whether she should be considered a resident alien or nonresident alien. According to Pub. 519, you are considered a resident alien if you meet either the Greed Card or Substantial Presence test...she's been here over 183 days in 2009, so she meets the presence test, and the way I understand it she would automatically be considered a resident alien. However, I called the IRS help line and was told that she is a Dual-Status Alien and that we would have to make the First-year choice to be a resident, which requires a statement attached to our return. It doesn't make sense to me to have to declare it if she already meets the Substantial Presence test. Am I missing something?

Second question...assuming she is a resident alien I am required to report her foreign income. Since the U.S. tax year runs on the calender year, I would think that I would only have to include her income from January 2009 until she stopped working and came here (she had no U.S. income for 2009). Are we allowed to claim the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion? From reading past posts here on the forums I would say so, but once again, the lady on the IRS help line confused me...she said that since she would be considered a U.S. resident alien, we could not claim the exclusion because her Tax Home was here in the U.S. for 2009. I disagree...she only worked in Australia for 2009 and was taxed on that income already. Please help!

Thanks!

Update:

Our 3rd visit to the Social Security office proved what we had suspected...it all seems to depend on who is handling your case. The service rep handling our case this time was very knowledgable on the subject and explained what had happened on our previous visit...nothing...surprise, surprise! We were told on our 2nd visit that the secondary electronic verification had been submitted, but it was obvious to her that it had not been. She resubmitted it, and we got a call the next day from her saying that the application was approved and we'll have the SSN in a day or two! So, had we not gone in for a 3rd time and pushed the issue, we'd still be waiting with nothing actually happening on their end.

So, I guess if anyone else ever runs into anything like this, you have to be persistent and make sure they are doing their job!

Thanks for the input everybody!

When I filed for extensions for tax years 2006 and 2007 I only put my name on the extension form. Wasn't a problem (especially if you are expecting a refund). If you are filing with Turbotax or TaxCuts, I believe it can be filed electronically.

Did you end up filing married filing jointly? And did your wife use an ITIN or SSN?

Any tax pros out there? This is the first of many tax questions I'm sure I will be asking in the near future...

My wife does not have a SSN yet and will likely not have one by the April 15th filing deadline (application pending DHS verification). Since we will eventually be filing Married Filing Jointly, it is my understanding that I will need to include her name and SSN on the extension Form 4868. We won't be going the ITIN route, so I'm wondering how I should go about this. My guess would be to put "pending" in the SSN space, but I've also read that you should put 999-99-9999 for the SSN because that means the SSN application is pending.

I want to avoid any stupid mistakes because we are due a nice little refund with the homebuyer tax credit.

Also, since we will be getting the homebuyer credit, we have to mail our forms in. Does this mean we should mail the extension as well, or would we be OK e-filing the extension?

Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks!

I would find out why things didn't verify in the first place, since there are times when things don't match and it's acceptable, for example, one letter of your name can be off, Bob Smith comes up Bod Smith is OK. Then find out at which step they are at. If a G-845 has been mailed, has a month gone by without a response. If the service rep gives you ####### when you ask, then ask for the operations manager.

We tried to find out why it didn't verify originally, but both the service rep and the manager could only tell us that "it needs to be verified with DHS". I can only ask "why" so many times before I feel like jumping over the desk and checking for myself.

Now, I don't know if middle names would affect this, but on her EAD card it only has her middle initial (first and last names are correct). We know for a fact that will filled out the I-765 application with her full middle name, so whoever entered it in for USCIS did that wrong. Could this be the problem?

We did get a letter on our first visit to SSA acknowledging that she applied for a SSN, but that it needed to be verified and it could take 4 weeks. Does this mean they sent the G-845, or would they still be waiting for electronic verification?

Thanks again for the responses...

OK just wondering, since I have seen that when some people that arrive as a K-1 and apply for an SSN with an EAD card while the AOS is pending and the SSA office tries to verify their status to assign the SSN it shows on the secondary electronic verification "Application Pending" rather than "Full Time Employment Authorized." This causes the SSN application to be denied.

This is such a screwed up system. I understand social security personnel need to follow protocol, but come on, where is the common sense? We followed protocal and did everything by the books and legally (apart from SSN upon entry, which we had no idea would be such an issue). My wife has been here on a K-1 since May 2009, we married within 90 days, applied for AOS and EAD at the same time, EAD is approved, but still can't get a SSN even though all that is required is the EAD.

No offence sciencenerd, and I don't know your full situation, but how does one enter as a visitor, overstay, apply for AOS and EAD, and not run into any problems? Did you get married on the visitor visa?

p.s. We went to the social security office again yesterday and got the same response: "needs to be verified with DHS." Nobody could offer any type of explanation other than "that is just the way it is."

Does anyone know if an EAD needs to be in the "system" for 10 days before we can apply for a Social Security Card? My wife has been in the U.S. since May 2009, but she didn't apply for a SSN before her I-94 expired. She just received her EAD, which says it's valid from 3/9/10 to 3/8/11. She applied for a SSN today (3/18), which is obviously only 9 days since the EAD was approved. The woman at the SS office told us that she couldn't verify her documents (EAD) because it hadn't been 10 days yet...so now, according to the letter she gave us, it has to be verified with the office that issued the EAD and it could take up to 4 weeks! We were expecting to have the number in a few days and the card in the mail in 2 weeks...

I know it takes 10 days when first entering the U.S. for the I-94 to be in the system, but I have spent a lot of time reading these forums and have never come across anything about having to wait once you get your EAD...Is this the way it works or are we just dealing with another incompetent government employee again!?!?

Thanks in advance

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The Search function for "Search Titles Only" is not working...anyone else notice this?

Thanks for the responses everbody. After doing some more research, I've discovered that our marriage certificate will reflect the names on the identification presented when applying for the marriage license. The marriage bureau in Las Vegas where we are getting married does not enter the new last name of the bride or make name changes. So, it seems to me that we are going to have to adjust her status using her maiden name because she doesn't have any legal identification to use her married name. Am I wrong in thinking this? Can we still apply for AOS using her married name to avoid having to eventually get a new EAD, Green Card, etc. even though there is no evidence of a name change?? Or does the simple fact that we are married and have a marriage certificate allow us to apply for AOS with a new name??

I know this has been asked all over this forum, but I can't seem to find a clear answer on what would be the best way to go...

What name should my soon-to-be wife use on the I-485, I-765, and G-325A?? She plans on taking my name after we are married, but obviously all of her identification (passport, visa, birth certificate, I-94) is in her maiden name. If she takes my name on the marriage certificate, will her EAD and green card be issued in my name or her maiden name like all of her identification? This is just all so confusing and I'm trying to avoid any major hassles if at all possible!

Thanks in advance

Hey everyone...

My fiance (K-1) and I are getting married on 8/2/09 and her I-94 expires on 8/5/09. We were under the impression that we could wait until after marriage to apply for a Social Security Number. But now I am reading that they won't accept applications when the I-94 is within 14 days of being expired!! Will she be able to apply for a SSN after we get married based on a valid marriage certificate? Or will they not accept the application based on the expired I-94?? I'm worried that we may have scewed up big time here!!! Someone please tell me different...

Thanks, Brett