Hi,

My spouse from Jamaica and I was just married on 11/7/15. Tax time is approaching and I am confused on how to file taxes. If we file married joint taxes they will look at the world wide income. Will we be able to file for an foreign earned income exclusion to avoid them using his taxes from Jamaica?

You managed to get her a tax id already?

It is a he, no tax id number SSN yes.

You would get more help in our tax forum (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/taxes/). Basically, as long as you are married as of December 31, you must file as married (married filing jointly or married filing separately). Married Filing Jointly is better tax-wise than Married Filing Separately in almost all situations. Yes, he will be considered resident the whole year to file jointly, and that means his worldwide income the whole year needs to be reported to US taxes. Yes, he should be able to use the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, applying the 12 months before he came to the US.

Thank you!