My wife does not have a SSN

[lromero53]

My wife entered the US through a Fiance visa in May 2021. We applied for status readjustment but we have not heard anything from USCIS or from the Social security administration. Therefore, she did not have any income during the year 2021.

When working in turbo tax, I decided to go with married filing jointly. However, when the TurboTax software asks about her SSN, I don't know what to put and leave it blank.  When getting ready to file, the software does not let me do it electronically and suggests filing by mail.  What can I do in this case? leave it blank and file by mail? or should I file married filed separately? 

[DanaB27]

Yes, you will have to pint your return and file by mail if you wish to file married filing jointly. If TurboTax gives you an error then enter as a placeholder SSN (we suggest 999-88-9999, 999-88-9998 or 999-88-9987, as those numbers won’t produce any TurboTax program errors in a review check) when TurboTax asks for your spouse's Social Security Number (SSN). After you printed your return you will have to white out the placeholder SSN and write "applied for SSN". Please How do I print and mail my return in TurboTax Online?

Another option is to file married filing separately but usually, it is more beneficial to file jointly. Please see Is it better for a married couple to file jointly or separately.

If you are not in a rush and expect to hear back from the Social Security Administration soon then you can file an extension. This will give you time until October 15th to file your return. Just make sure if you expect to owe any balance due that you pay that with the extension. Please see How do I file an IRS extension (Form 4868) in TurboTax Online?