@ng92 , generally agreeing with my colleague @Vanessa A , the US-India Tax treaty does allow standard deduction for students on F-1 from India but it stipulates this in a round about way -- It wants India students to be treated same as American and/or resident for tax purpose students.
Therefore it is a matter of interpretation on how to proceed i.e. America/Resident students with filing status of Married Filing Sep ( equivalent to F-1 married students form 1040-NR ) have the additional restriction of both taking the same type of deduction. My interpretation of the situation is that since one spouse is filing with itemized deduction, the other spouse must also follow suit .
Others may disagree with my strict interpretation of the intent of the law.
Is there more I can do for you? If you need more, please provide dates of both your and your spouse's entry and if this is your first entry within the last three years.
Namaste
pk
