I am married to a foreigner who has no plans to move to the US, is nonresident alien the right choice for filing taxes?

[MovingAbroad]

In October 2019 I married a non-US resident. I will be moving abroad to live with her later this year. We did not live together in 2019 and will be filing taxes separately for the year.

What should I file my wife as in my tax statements? I have seen similar questions asked, and the correct answer appears to be 'nonresident alien'. However,the foreign spouse in thosequestions is always moving into the the USA. In my case, I will be leaving and we have no plans to apply for a US green card or visa at this time. Is 'nonresident alien' still appropriate for this scenario?

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

Yes, NRA is still used whether or not you are located in the US.

If you are a US citizen or US resident and your spouse does not have a Social Security number or an ITIN and you are not applying for an ITIN with the tax return then you can only file your tax return as Married Filing Separately.  Where asked to enter the spouse's Social Security number enter 999-88-9999.  You can only print and mail your tax return, it cannot be e-filed.  When you print the tax return erase the Social Security number for your spouse and manually enter NRA for non-resident alien.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for the procedure to print and mail a tax return using the online editions - https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1944348-how-do-i-print-and-mail-my-return-in-turbotax-online