Probably not. In order to claim a dependent, they must be a US Resident Alien, Citizen, resident of Mexico or Canada or a national. If they did not come here on a Green Card, then they would not meet substantial presence test to be considered a resident alien. They would also need to meet the criteria below in order for you to claim them.
Also, what is your Residency status? Are you a US Citizen, Resident Alien, or Non-Resident Alien? If you also came here in December and did not come on a Green Card, you would not have met the Substantial presence test which means you may currently be a Non-Resident Alien. If so, you would need to file a 1040_NR instead of a form 1040. TurboTax does not support the form 1040-NR, but our partner Sprintax.com does. They would be able to answer any questions you have for filing as a Non-Resident Alien.
To claim someone as a Qualifying Relative, they must be:
- Your child ( including step children, adoptive children and foster children) or a descendent of them
- Your sibling (including half siblings) or a child of your sibling or a sibling-in-law
- Your parent or grandparents, including step parents and in laws
- Any other person that lived with you for the entire tax year
- Not a qualifying child of another taxpayer
- Must have a SSN or ITIN
- Someone that you provided over half of their support for during the tax year
- Has less than $5,200 in income (not counting social security)
The following criteria must be met to claim someone as a qualifying child:
- Your child (including adopted and foster children), your sibling, or a descendent of any of them.
- Age 18 or younger at the end of the tax year OR under 24 (and younger than you and your spouse) if they are a full-time student or any age if they are totally and permanently disabled
- Lived with you for more than 6 months during the tax year
- They did not provide more than half of their own support (social security does not count)
- They did not file a joint return, unless it was to claim a refund
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