Thread: Rebate excludes many taxpayers with foreign spouses

Rebate excludes many taxpayers with foreign spouses

By JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Writer Sun May 11, 2:01 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO - When Maulit Shelat heard about the Bush administration's plan to pump up the economy by sending out stimulus checks, he sat down with his wife and drew up a list of priorities: first up, remodeling the bathroom.
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But Shelat is married to a foreigner who still hasn't completed the often years-long process that allows her to apply for a Social Security number. Her not having that number makes even him ineligible for the tax rebate checks that started going out last week because they filed jointly.

He is among an estimated hundreds of thousands of taxpayers — from legal immigrants to soldiers based abroad — who won't be getting a share of the stimulus package because of a provision aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from getting rebates.

"I would have fed this economy as well," said Shelat, an Indian chemical engineer living with his wife and two children in the Buffalo, N.Y.-area. "We live within this economy, work, pay taxes, do everything by the book. Whatever the reasons for giving this economic stimulus package, they apply to us as well."

When lawmakers decided to send out the checks, ranging from $300 to $600 per adult taxpayer, plus another $300 for each child, they formulated it so only taxpayers who have Social Security numbers would qualify.

The rule unintentionally caught many taxpayers who would have qualified for the bonus, except they filed jointly with a spouse who's immigration status doesn't allow them to have a Social Security number. Among them are some of the 288,000 troops stationed overseas who may have married a foreigner.

"An American soldier who has married someone from another country and is waiting for an (immigration) petition to get approved — that soldier not getting that check is stupid," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., whose district includes Silicon Valley, home of many high-tech workers who fell through the rebate cracks.

It's not clear how many members of the Armed Forces posted abroad have married foreigners. But officials in overseas bases say they can't do anything about the Internal Revenue Service's policy.

"The U.S. military doesn't have any input in IRS practices and procedures," said Air Force Major Pamela Cook, with the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany. "It's true that service members and anybody who is married to someone without a Social Security number is affected. But it's not in our lane to talk."

There are also an estimated 1 million legal residents — immigrants with green cards — who are waiting for their spouses' paperwork to be processed, according to Paul Donnelly of Reform the Rebate, a group trying to push Congress the change the rule. The IRS doesn't keep numbers of how many of that group are cut out of the rebate because they filed jointly.

And many of the 600,000 to 800,000 highly skilled immigrants on work visas in the U.S., like Shelat, have found themselves in the same position, having married a foreigner.

"My friends, my co-workers, everyone is getting this, but not me," said Ranjeet Kumar, a software engineer who has been working in Silicon Valley for eight years.

Kumar's wife is in the U.S. legally but her status still doesn't allow her to work or apply for a Social Security number. The couple filed taxes jointly but won't qualify for the $1,200 rebate other eligible couples would get.

"I know they want to exclude illegal immigrants — but I'm not illegal, I've done exactly what I was supposed to do," Kumar said.

Members of the Federation for American Immigration Reform lobbied against a version of the bill that didn't require a Social Security number for the rebate, worried about the prospect of illegal immigrants receiving checks. Spokesman Ira Mehlman said the exclusion of legal immigrants and Americans married to noncitizens was an unintended consequence.

"If you're serving abroad and haven't been able to file the paperwork, they should make an exception," he said. "If one spouse is a citizen, is here legally and is filing, they should probably be entitled."

Many of the couples snagged by this provision weren't aware that filing taxes using the foreign spouse's IRS-issued Taxpayer Identification Number instead of a Social Security number would cut them out. On April 14, the day before the tax deadline, the IRS clarified the situation on its Web site.

"They can file separately, though that may not necessarily be to their benefit," said Eric Smith, an IRS spokesman.

Tax advisers said even if these couples had known, frequently the financial benefits of filing jointly outweigh the maximum of $600 that the spouse with the Social Security number could get by filing separately.

But many of these couples feel they shouldn't have to choose since they've been working legally and paying taxes.

Sheila Reed, who works at Command Navy Region Europe in Naples, Italy, said she filed taxes together with her husband, who still uses the IRS Taxpayer Identification Number.

"I don't feel this is fair because I pay taxes like any other U.S. citizen," she told Stars and Stripes, a newspaper published for the U.S. military and other Department of Defense personnel. "It's not right. I have three kids."


My note: Are these engineers THAT broke? Boo Hoo I only make 90,000/year and I REALLY needed that $600. These "productive" people should go back to their home countries and be productive THERE where the laws are so much fairer. And how many of our soldiers are marrying foreigners? I didn't realize it was that many.

I'll make them a deal. I'll give them my stimulus check and they can give me their free health care.

Maybe if the OBL hadn't of made a mess out of immigration system, this wouldn't have happened. In the meantime, the crisis of illegal immigration is alot worse than this glitch.

I don't understand why people don't apply for citizenship before marrying some foreigner. Also if you apply for a spouse or a child you can apply for a work permit while waiting for residency. Once you get a work permit and get it then you can apply for a SSN which has a stamp on indicating you have a work visa. That is all it takes. My relatives had work permits and SSN and a citizen sponsor and they got their check. They only got their greencards in April of this year.

Personally I think immigration should allow relatives to bring foreign born spouses and children who have been married for years but make it harder for people to marry foreigners and sponsor them. There is too much immigration fraud by people marrying for greencards. They arrested 80 people in Orlando who were marrying people for money so the person can obtain a greencard.

I HAVE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT FOREIGNERS WHO MARRY AMERICANS SHOULD HAVE TO APPLY FOR VISA OR CITIZENSHIP BASED SOLEY ON THEIR OWN MERIT. MARRIAGE TO AN AMERICAN CITIZEN SHOULD NOT BE A CONSIDERATION. THEN THERE WOULD BE NO MARRIAGE FRAUD.

ALSO WHEN FOREIGNERS HAVE KIDS HERE, THEY SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO APPLY BASED ON HAVING A CHILD HERE. EVERY IMMIGRANT SHOULD APPLY BASED SOLEY ON HIS OR HER OWN MERIT.

WE DONT CARE IF YOU ARE MARRIED, HAVE KIDS HERE, HAVE A JOB HERE, HAVE FAMILY HERE, HAVE BEEN HERE FOR MANY YEARS....YADDA YADDA YADDA. ALL IMMIGRATION APPLICATIONS SHOULD BE DECIDED ENTIRELY ON THE MERIT OF THE APPLICANT. THEN THERE WOULD BE NO FRAUD.

AND I WOULD LIKE TO SAY ONE MORE THING. SOME AMERICANS ACTUALLY GO INTO THESE MARRIAGES THINKING IT IS A REAL MARRIAGE. THIS WOULD PROTECT THEM. ALSO TOO MANY HAVE ANCHOR BABIES THEY CANT TAKE CARE OF. THIS WOULD PROTECT THOSE CHILDREN.

Marrying foreigners and anchor babies have to stop. I am sick of it. In fact some Hispanic groups who work with their people coach them on how to take the easy route out instead of the legal one. When I was at a friends house there was a woman there who was going through immigration and had to go for a meeting for her green card but left her husband before that due to domestic violence. Her husband was Puerto Rican and she was from Venezula and they had a child together and she had one from a previous marriage in Venezuela. If you are a victim of domestic violence then if you have police reports and an injunction against him (restraining order), you qualify for a visa that is good for 2 years and during that time you can apply for a green card. The visa she had before she got her greencard was set to expire in 2 months and same with her driver's license. She has done nothing because she spoke to an organization call Hispanic Unity after she left her husband and didn't want to admit that she was told to do nothing as she has an anchor baby. If she took the legal route then there would be less freebies whereas now there are all kinds of handouts especially since she is unemployed. This shouls also not be allowed.

The man will receive a stimulus check for himself and not for her. She does not have a SS number so she does not work and does not pay taxes. You don't get something for nothing.

This is just another stupid sob story!

Dixie

Originally Posted by sofedup

But Shelat is married to a foreigner who still hasn't completed the often years-long process that allows her to apply for a Social Security number. Her not having that number makes even him ineligible for the tax rebate checks that started going out last week because they filed jointly.

What is the HECK is this idiot talking about. My wife came here from another country and it didn't take her a year long process to get a SS number. She went to the Social Security office and got a number the same day. While it took about 2 hours waiting in line it certainly wasn't 1 year.

Once someone on a K2 visa is in the USA and gets a work permit they can then get a SS number.

No SS number means you are not a tax payer. The rebate only includes tax payers. How can you even file jointly when she has no SS number?

You know what? I didn't ask for this money and honestly don't care whether I get it or not. $1600 is not going to help me much. Maybe I can save a few dollars on bills by using this money, but this is money I didn';t have anyway. So why are these people crying over something like this, especially when engineers certainly make more than us teachers.

Originally Posted by bigtex

Originally Posted by sofedup

But Shelat is married to a foreigner who still hasn't completed the often years-long process that allows her to apply for a Social Security number. Her not having that number makes even him ineligible for the tax rebate checks that started going out last week because they filed jointly.

What is the HECK is this idiot talking about. My wife came here from another country and it didn't take her a year long process to get a SS number. She went to the Social Security office and got a number the same day. While it took about 2 hours waiting in line it certainly wasn't 1 year.

Once someone on a K2 visa is in the USA and gets a work permit they can then get a SS number.

No SS number means you are not a tax payer. The rebate only includes tax payers. How can you even file jointly when she has no SS number?

You know what? I didn't ask for this money and honestly don't care whether I get it or not. $1600 is not going to help me much. Maybe I can save a few dollars on bills by using this money, but this is money I didn';t have anyway. So why are these people crying over something like this, especially when engineers certainly make more than us teachers.

In Miami you go to the SS office and get your receipt once you are approved for a SSN. Then you get it in the mail within a week even though they tell you 2 weeks. That person mentioned in the article must have been denied and is appealing it or she was waiting for a work permit in order to be able to get a SSN that can take a year.