christoph
New Member

I'm an H1B resident alien and worked in the US all 2016. My wife worked in Canada in 2016 but moved to the US in Sept. When filing jointly, is she a resident alien?

I am an H1B worker and have been since April 2014, so I pass the substantial presence test.

However, my wife and I were married in August 2016, and she moved to the US in September 2016. She did not work in the US in 2016, but did work in Canada.

Can we:

1. File jointly?

2. Have her treated as a resident alien if we include a statement wishing to be treated as such?

3. Report her worldwide income? Will she be taxed on this in Canada as well as the US? It seems that the US and Canada have a taxation treaty preventing this.

Thanks!