US Citizen living in US; filing Head of Household for US citizen children still living abroad with NRA wife?

[MrBaman]

I am a US citizen who moved back to the US March 2024. 
I have two children that are US citizens and a wife that is a NRA. They are still living abroad.
We are living separate because of work and waiting for my wife's visa to come through.

Until this year, I have filed as "Head of Household" because I was living with my family abroad (EDIT: And I was not electing to report my wife as a "resident alien") , however this year I'm not sure what to do. My question is :

Am I allowed to file "Head of Household" because I am sending/paying money to my family abroad, even though I am not living there?
OR this year, should I file as "Married Filing Separately" because I'm not physically living with the dependents I would be claiming?
OR, is "Head of Household" okay because, as the US citizen, I would be the only one claiming the children as dependents anyway? (My wife is not filing US taxes, thereby also not claiming the children as dependents)

[Bsch4477]

No, you can’t file Head of Household since the children are not living with you. The default is filing separately but it is possible to file jointly. See a full discussion here. 

How should I file my taxes if my spouse is a nonresident alien? 

[KrisD15]

No, if you are married, you cannot file Head Of Household unless you meet the requirement to be "considered unmarried" 

To file Head of Household, you must be unmarried or "considered unmarried" on the last day of the tax year. 

According to the IRS:

"To be considered unmarried at the end of a tax year, your spouse may not be a member of your household during the last 6 months of the tax year."

If you were Married, you may not have met the requirements of filing Head of Household for years past, or did you only recently get married?

You now have the choice of filing Married Filing Separately or have you both make the election to file Married Filing Jointly and treat your wife as a "resident for filing purposes". 

Making the election to file a joint return.

@MrBaman 

[MrBaman]

Hello, thank you for your response.

I gathered from responses like this and elsewhere that if my spouse is not electing to be treated as a resident alien, it's possible to file as "Head of Household" even if we were married and living in the same house abroad together, IF I was claiming my children (who are US citizens) as dependents, living with them and providing for more than half of the income.

So for past instances, it seems like it was okay. But now I'm gather than since I am no longer in the same household as the dependents I would be claiming (even though I am effectively sending money to them overseas to support them), I will have to file as "Married Filing Separately". I don't mind doing this, I just want to make sure I'm understanding it correctly. 

@KrisD15 

[MaryK4]

You are correct- for Head of Household, you must have a qualifying person living in the same household as you.  See Nonresident alien spouse. @MrBaman