“My wife needs to file her taxes this month, but we are waiting for my green card and I don't have an SSN yet. How can she file as married (jointly or separately) without my SSN?”
You do not necessarily have to wait for the green card: a qualifying separate return can use “NRA,” and an SSN-ineligible spouse who needs a number can apply for an ITIN with the return. The hard limit is that a joint return cannot simply omit a required spouse identifier.
For a 2025 return, the practical fork is your 2025 tax residency and whether you are eligible for an SSN—not whether your green card has arrived.
If you were a for 2025 and neither have nor are required to have an SSN or , she can check “Married filing separately” on her 2025 Form 1040, enter your name, and put “” in the spouse-number space. This is her separate return, not permission to omit your number from a joint return or from a separate return you must file yourself. [IRS 2025 Form 1040 instructions](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf).
If you are not eligible for an SSN, apply for an using Form W-7 attached to the tax return. Your wife can file separately with your ITIN if an identifier is required, or you can file jointly; if you were a nonresident at the end of 2025 and she was a citizen or resident, joint filing also requires your signed election to be treated as U.S. residents for the year and reporting both spouses’ worldwide income. Leave your Form 1040 SSN box blank while applying for the ITIN. [IRS W-7 instructions](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw7); [IRS nonresident-spouse guidance](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-spouse).
If you are eligible for an SSN—or have an SSN application pending—Form W-7 is not available. If you also do not meet the narrow “NRA” condition for her separate return, obtain your SSN before filing a return that requires your number; pay tax owed without waiting for the card. An SSN requested on Form I-485 is generally mailed after green-card approval, not on filing the green-card application. [IRS W-7 instructions](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw7); [SSA Form I-485 SSN process](https://www.ssa.gov/ssnvisa/ebe.html); [2025 Form 4868](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4868.pdf).
These Form 1040 routes assume your wife was a U.S. citizen or tax resident and you were married at the end of 2025; a wife filing as a nonresident instead follows the Form 1040-NR rules. [IRS 2025 Form 1040 instructions](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf); [Form 1040-NR instructions](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040nr.pdf).
These steps identify the right 2025 married-filing route before you send a return or miss an applicable deadline.
Start here
Establish your 2025 filing status and tax residency
For a 2025 married Form 1040, you must have been married at the end of 2025. To assess your , count at least 31 qualifying U.S. days in 2025 and a total of 183 using all qualifying 2025 days, one-third of 2024 days, and one-sixth of 2023 days; some days and exceptions require different treatment. A pending green-card application alone does not establish that you passed the green-card test. [IRS 2025 Form 1040 instructions](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf); [IRS presence test](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/substantial-presence-test); [IRS green-card test](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/us-tax-residency-green-card-test).
Requirements
Before using Form W-7
Establish whether you need an SSN or can apply for an ITIN
If you are eligible for an SSN or have applied for one, do not submit Form W-7. If SSA finds you ineligible, attach its denial letter to Form W-7. If you already requested an SSN on Form I-485, SSA says it will mail the card after permanent-residence approval and that it should arrive no later than 14 days after you receive the green card. Otherwise, an eligible, lawfully present applicant can start at https://www.ssa.gov/number-card/request-number-first-time and complete the SSA office or Card Center document visit within 45 days; the SSA card application is free. [IRS W-7 instructions](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw7); [SSA I-485 process](https://www.ssa.gov/ssnvisa/ebe.html); [SSA noncitizen guide](https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10096.pdf).
Requirements
Choose one branch
Prepare the applicable married return
For her separate 2025 Form 1040, she can check Married filing separately, enter your name, and enter “NRA” in the spouse-number space only if you neither have nor are required to have an SSN or ITIN. If an ITIN is required and you are SSN-ineligible, attach your Form W-7 to the front of the original Form 1040 and leave your SSN field blank. For a joint return with a spouse who was nonresident at 2025 year-end, both spouses sign Form 1040 and a statement electing U.S.-resident treatment; the statement calls for both spouses’ names, addresses, and identification numbers, and both must report worldwide income. [IRS 2025 Form 1040 instructions](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf); [W-7 instructions](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw7); [IRS election instructions](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-spouse).
Requirements
October 15 only with a valid extension
Send the return and address any tax owed
For most taxpayers, the 2025 original filing and payment date was April 15, 2026; a timely Form 4868 extends filing, not payment, to October 15, 2026. If there was no extension, file as soon as possible. A W-7 package goes by the return’s applicable due date to Internal Revenue Service, ITIN Operation, P.O. Box 149342, Austin, TX 78714-9342—not the ordinary Form 1040 address. For a separate return without W-7, the IRS paper-return address depends on your wife’s state and whether payment is enclosed, neither of which was provided. [2025 Form 4868](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4868.pdf); [IRS when to file](https://www.irs.gov/filing/individuals/when-to-file); [W-7 mailing instructions](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw7).
Requirements
You are not the first to go through this. Here is how it went for others who asked the same thing.
u/csm-44r/IRSAug 10, 2026
The answer is based on the IRS’s 2025 Form 1040 and 1040-NR instructions, Form W-7 instructions, Form 4868, and SSA guidance.
2025 Instructions for Form 1040
Her separate 2025 Form 1040 can use “NRA” for your missing number only when you are not required to have an SSN or ITIN.
Married Filing Separately
If your spouse doesn’t have and isn’t required to have an SSN or ITIN, enter “NRA” in the entry space.
2025 Instructions for Form 1040
The number-free separate-return exception does not cover a joint return or a separate return the nonresident spouse files personally.
Nonresident Alien Spouse
If your spouse is a nonresident alien, your spouse must have either an SSN or an ITIN if: • You file a joint return, or • Your spouse is filing a separate return.
2025 Instructions for Form 1040
The married-filing choice for this return turns on the couple’s marital status at the end of 2025.
Married Filing Separately
Check the “Married filing separately” box in the Filing Status section on page 1 of Form 1040 or 1040-SR if you are married at the end of 2025 and file a separate return.
2025 Instructions for Form 1040
A citizen or resident spouse and a nonresident spouse can elect joint filing for the year.
Married Filing Jointly
However, you and your spouse can choose to be treated as U.S. residents for the entire year and file a joint return if one spouse was a nonresident alien at the end of the tax year (the nonresident spouse) and the other was a U.S. citizen or resident at the end of the tax year.
IRS Nonresident Spouse — Election to File Joint Return
The first joint return making the nonresident-spouse election needs a signed statement.
How to make the choice
Attach a statement, signed by both spouses, to your joint return for the first tax year for which the choice applies.
IRS Nonresident Spouse — Election to File Joint Return
The election brings both spouses’ worldwide income into the joint U.S. return and can continue in later years.
Election to file joint return
Each spouse must report their entire worldwide income for the year you make the choice and for all later years unless the choice is ended or suspended.
Instructions for Form W-7
An SSN-eligible person, including someone with an SSN application pending, cannot use Form W-7 instead.
Social security numbers
Don’t complete Form W-7 if you have an SSN or if you’re eligible to get an SSN. If you have an application for an SSN pending, don’t file Form W-7.
Instructions for Form W-7
If SSA finds the husband ineligible for an SSN, its denial letter goes with his ITIN application.
Social security numbers
If the SSA determines that you’re not eligible for an SSN, you must get a letter of denial and attach it to your Form W-7.
Instructions for Form W-7
The couple can send an original return with Form W-7 while leaving the applicant’s SSN field blank.
How to apply
Your original tax return(s) for which the ITIN is needed. Attach Form W-7 to the front of your tax return. If you’re applying for more than one ITIN for the same tax return (such as for a spouse or dependent(s)), attach all Forms W-7 to the same tax return. Leave the area of the SSN blank on the tax return for each person who is applying for an ITIN.
Instructions for Form W-7
The W-7 package needs qualifying evidence of identity and foreign status, not ordinary photocopies.
Supporting documentation requirements
You must submit original documents, or certified copies of these documents from the issuing agency, that support the information provided on Form W-7.
Instructions for Form W-7
A new ITIN application travels with the return by that return’s applicable due date.
When to apply
If you’re applying for a new ITIN, complete and attach Form W-7 to the front of your tax return and file your application package with your tax return for which the ITIN is needed on or before the due date for the return.
2025 Form 4868
For most taxpayers, the 2025 filing extension had to be requested by April 15 and runs no later than October 15, 2026.
When to File Form 4868; General Instructions
For a 2025 calendar year return, this is April 15, 2026, for most people. Generally, we can’t extend the due date of your return for more than 6 months (October 15, 2026, for most calendar year taxpayers).
2025 Form 4868
Even a valid filing extension did not extend the tax-payment deadline.
General Instructions
Although you aren’t required to make a payment of the tax you estimate as due, Form 4868 doesn’t extend the time to pay taxes.
IRS When to File
If there was no valid extension and the return is overdue, the IRS says to file promptly.
Haven’t filed your tax return lately?
If you haven't filed your federal income tax return for this year or for prior years, you should file your return as soon as possible.
IRS Substantial Presence Test
Physical presence can make the husband a tax resident even before his green card is issued.
Substantial presence test
31 days during the current year, and 183 days during the 3-year period that includes the current year and the 2 years immediately before that, counting:
IRS Green Card Test
The green-card residency test concerns lawful permanent-resident status, not merely a pending application.
Green card test
You are a lawful permanent resident of the United States, at any time, if you have been given the privilege, according to the immigration laws, of residing permanently in the United States as an immigrant.
SSA Enumeration Beyond Entry — Form I-485
If he requested an SSN on Form I-485, SSA normally mails it after approval and receipt of the green card.
Form I-485
You should receive your SSN card no later than 14 days after you receive your Permanent Resident Card/Form I-551/ “Green Card” from USCIS.
SSA Social Security Numbers for Noncitizens
An SSN-eligible noncitizen who begins the SSA application online still has an in-person document step.
How can a noncitizen apply?
To complete the application process, you must visit your local Social Security office or Card Center with the required documents within 45 days of starting the process.
2025 Instructions for Form 1040-NR
If the wife herself must file as a nonresident, her return follows different married-filing rules.
Form 1040-NR Helpful Hints
A nonresident alien filing Form 1040-NR cannot have a Married filing jointly or a Head of household filing status.
These are official IRS and SSA rules as published or reviewed on the cited dates; rules can change.
This is general information about official processes, not legal advice, and SettleKit is not a law firm.
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