Hi,

My husband and I file our taxes jointly. We married in 2003 and have been financially supporting his children abroad. He has three children. However, we have never included them as dependents on our taxes. We have been given varied answers on whether we can claim them and was wondering which is the correct response. I have been told that we can get a TAX ID for the children even though they are not in the states. We are presently in the process of bringing two to live with us. Please advise as to whether obtaining a tax ID is possible considering we do support them.

Thanks,
Yvonne

Normally, you can claim your children even if they are not residents. But if they did not live with you or your husband for more than half of the year, then you can't claim them.
To claim a qualifying child as dependent, it does not make any difference who provided the support; the most important is who has the custody.

MukatA's advice is accurate.

If they were NOT in the custody of at least ONE of the parent's for more than half of the year, they CANNOT be claimed as dependents.

Sorry!