Hello all,
I am us citizen and got married in June in Nepal. My wife is still in Nepal and I-130 is on pending. Should I file tax return as a single since my wife never been here or married filing separately? is there anyone who had/has same situations? I found people doing both ways. My concern is if that affects the immigration process? please share your experiences. thanks.

just do married. You'll have greater deduction and one more "official" piece of paper that your wife can use as evidence of marriage later if needed. Marriage in Nepal is perfectly valid and legal in eyes of USCIS (as it should be).

how to file as married when she has not even come to the USA and she even does not have a social security number or ITIN number?

tito-satya, she can have ITIN. I filed as the married when my wife was not in the USA.

sgautam1, search for ITIN information. You can't file online. You will have a option to mail the documents so You sent the tax document and the ITIN form to IRS.

As far as I know, You can not claim until you have SSN of your spouse.

You should file Married Filing Jointly, and in fact this is highly encouraged. That way you will get $24K exemption for this year from IRS i.e. more tax refund. For immigration purposes, it will only strengthen your case with USCIS.

You will have to file form W7 to get an ITIN from IRS for your wife. The US embassy in Kathmandu also provides services to notarize your wife's passport specifically for the purpose of applying W7. Check out their web page at
https://np.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/notaries-public/

Let me know if you wanna go that route. I can post more if you need more details.

@sgautam1 ji ekchoti inbox check garnu hai

I think it will be better to file married filing separately since my wife is not here and won't need to go through ITIN number headache. and amend to joint return when she come back as it can be amended within 3 yrs. thanks a lot to all for the suggestions.

Recently, I-130 for my spouse has been approved. Can I use approved I-130 for purpose of applying W7?
I have been filing single for many years and now I have realized filing married jointly vs single does really make a difference in tax return.
I am thinking of amending last 3 years return as well if applicable once I get ITIN number.

Sgautam,

I am wondering why did you choose I-130 route instead of K-1 route to bring your wife to U.S.? I-130 route has a long wait time right now right?

DeepOcean,

How long did it take for your I-130 to get approved? Also, I am wondering why did you not choose K-1 route?