if the children did not live with you in the US for more than 1/2 the year they do not qualify for purposes of the EIC. there are other qualifications that must be met for you to get the EIC and use the number of qualifying children to increase it. for purposes of the EIC only a max of 3 qualifying children can be used.
you can still get a small EIC without qualifying children if your earned income/agi is low enough TT will figure EIC based on your entries. do not claim the children if they don't qualify. if you do the IRS will likely catch it and you will be barred from taking the EIC for 2 years
