Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I am in a similar situation and my FICA taxes were not deducted for 2018. I was also looking into considering filing as NRA even though I have been here for more than 5 years as a student.
Did you end up filing a 10140NR with form 8843? If so, did you get any push-back from the IRS or did you get your refund without any hassle? How did you prove your closer connection to another county?
Hoping that you can answer from your personal experience. This is not a very widely seen problem, and it is hard to get any conclusive answers.
