Bigby

Here's a copy/paste of my gender neutral answer from another thread.

You will write a statement saying you are a US citizen and he/she was a non-resident alien on the last day of 2010 and you both elect for him/her to be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes. That's required for him/her to file jointly with you as he/she is not a resident yet by immigration rules. But for the IRS, the statement will allow him/her to be considered a resident as far as filing taxes goes. Otherwise a non-resident can not file a joint return. You both sign the statement and each list you name, address, and id number (SSN and A-number). Staple it to the end of your return.

How an statement with signatures can be submitted with an e-file, I don't know because I mailed a paper return the year we were at this stage. I didn't look into e-file for that year.

Use her SSN and her married name if that's the last name she plans to use now. Don't worry about what the SS card name says. IRS wants it for identification and I don't really think they check in with Social Security or Immigration. Government agencies don't check in with each other that much. I know illegal aliens work under the same fake SSN and multiple people file taxes with the same SSN. How does that fly? Apply for the greencard in her married name and after she gets that you can sort out her name for her Social Security records. It won't be a problem with IRS.

A comment on the jkelly post above-- A married person can't file as single. He can file Married Filing Separately if he does not want his wife on his return. His taxes would be higher than filing joint in most cases. I'm refering to this statement

She is a resident alien though, she got her green card in October. Does she still need a statement?

when you file your taxes put her maiden name also kmow as .......married name on the form , the social security has to change the madien name to married bring your marriage certificate and your passport, your green card to the ss office, if your married you must file married, joint a better refund, if you file single the refund is not that good,

Yep, I totally plan to file jointly, was just wondering if I can use the 1040EZ and if I need anything supplemental.

Thanks ;-)

My apologies - I know there are a ton of threads already asking for tax help, I am not able to find a specifc and direct answer to my question.

My wife came to the US on a K-1 fiance visa in March 2010. She immediately got her SS card. We got married in May 2010.

I have simple taxes and normally file a 1040EZ. My wife had 0 income from her home country and 0 from the US. My understanding from previous threads is that I may file as Maried, filing Jointly and take the larger joint standard deduction.

Soooo... what form do I need to file? I mean, can I just do a 1040EZ again, with Married filing Jointly, and call it a day? Or do I need to use a different form and/or supplemental forms? Is she automatically considered a full year resident alien, or do I need to claim or prove that with additional forms?

Also, I never got her a new SS card with our married name - my understanding is that to avoid confusion, I should just file the tax using the name on her SS card, is that correct?

If someone knows the answer (not guesses!), I appreciate the help!

Thanks!

I haven't checked in for a while but just an update, my fiance had her interview in Jakarta Indonesia on January 12th and was approved, and her visa was issued today, January 21st!

I thought it was strange that it took 9 days from interview approval to visa issuance, they actually told her to fly back to Bali and they will mail her visa and passport to the Bali consulate. I guess they were very backed up in their visa admin.

Thanks for all the help, VisaJourney!

You were right, my NOA was October 2nd not 6th. Thanks!

Hard copy, I believe I forgot to write down when I got the initial NOA notification.

HI, this is my first time here. I wish I came here for info when I first started researching the process and getting the wheels moving a year ago!

Based on the timelines I am seeing and my own experience, it seems like the VSC has been speeding up considerably from the beginning of the year until now. I mailed my petition on 9/24/09, received my NOA1 on 10/6/09, and just received my email NOA2 approval on 11/3/09! I am shocked and pleasantly surprised that NOA1->NOA2 took *less than a month* ... I was expected 3-4 months.

I think that Packet 3 and beyond, however, may slow down because Indonesia is pretty slow in general when it comes to mail and processing times.