@please_help
Does your wife intend to move to the US? Or remain in the Philippines.
Your wife is only eligible for an ITIN if she has a tax connection to the US. That tax connection could be created by filing a joint return with you, or by her having US-source income (income that is connected to working in the US). However, whether or not your pension would be US-source income is something I don't know. Are you talking about a pension, IRA withdrawals or something else? I do know that a foreign person who owns stock in US companies is not considered US-source income, so it's not clear to me whether, under US law, your wife would ever need a tax ID number if she never sets foot in the US, even if she inherits some assets from you. And of course, even if she does inherit and is required to file a US tax return, she could get a tax number at that time.
Also, if you file separately for 2024, you can decide to make the election to treat your wife as a US person and file jointly in a later year. (I think that once you make the election, it is very difficult to un-do. But you don't have to make the election immediately if you want to try filing MFS instead.)
Ultimately how you file is still a decision only you can make.
