Hi,

We had a baby on June 30, 2010 in India. Me, my wife and my baby came to the US on Sep 21, 2010. I am on H1 visa, while my wife and baby are on H4 visa. My wife and I have resident alien status based on the number of days stay, but I am confused about my baby.

She fulfills all the criteria for "Child Tax Credit", but I don't know if she is to be considered a resident alien or not. From what I have read, she could be in resident alien status due to 2 reasons:
1. I have read that newborns are considered resident aliens (newborn is credited with spending the entire year with their parents).
2. Since this is her first year in US, she could be considered a dual status alien. We could choose to have her treated as a resident alien in 2010, if she fulfills the resident alien conditions in 2011.

Would the resident alien status also affect her status for being claimed as a dependent on my "married filing jointly" tax return?

Thanks a lot!

You can file joint return as residents and claim your child. You will get child tax credit. Your U.S. Tax Return: The U.S. Visas (http://taxipay.blogspot.com/2008/08/us-visas.html)

Thanks a lot!

Did this actually work out and would this hold same for L1/L2 visa holders ? Mine is a similar case when my daugther (L2 visa) was born in 16 March 2010 and we (me, wife and daughter) came in USA on 4th July 2010. Both me (L1) and my wife (homemaker - L2) are US resident aliens as per the substantial presence test as we have been to US on B1/B2 visa in 2008. But for my daughther, can I claim her as a dependent and get the child tax credit ?

Did this actually work out and would this hold same for L1/L2 visa holders ? Mine is a similar case when my daugther (L2 visa) was born in 16 March 2010 and we (me, wife and daughter) came in USA on 4th July 2010. Both me (L1) and my wife (homemaker - L2) are US resident aliens as per the substantial presence test as we have been to US on B1/B2 visa in 2008. But for my daughther, can I claim her as a dependent and get the child tax credit ?

I found out that if the child is not born in USA (not a US citizen), then it has to fulfill the substantial presence test. Since 2010 was our baby's (and your baby's too) first year in US, she is treated as a dual status alien. We can choose to treat her as a resident alien once she attains the resident alien status in 2011 (according to the substantial presence test). She will do that at the end of May, so I we have to wait until then to file. We don't owe any taxes, so that is not a problem for us. For you (1/3) [days in 2010 (July 4 - Dec 31) = 181] = 60. So you need 121 more days in 2011 (May 1st, if my calculation is correct) for her to achieve the resident alien status.

I haven't been through the process yet. I will post back when everything is done, but I have a few colleagues who have successfully been through this process via this method.

Cool, thanks columbiajack !

If you file joint return as residents and the child is in US even for a single day, you can claim the child.