Hi,
This is my first question, and I hope somebody can help me :-)

I'm an american citizen and I got married in Brazil to a Brazilian citizen. She took a semester off from school (university) to stay here with me on a tourist visa. She is going back to Brazil now, to finish her degree (she has 2 years left).

My question is... can I claim her as my wife in my 2009 tax return? She has no job, since she is still going to school, and she has no SSN, no Tax ID Number, and she was here in the US for about 6 months.

Thanks,
E.

More of a tax question rather than immigration. But, if you need to file taxes and she is your wife, have her file for a ITIN, individual taxpayer identification number. This is a number issued by the IRS for tax filing purposes.