Hello,

I'm a U.S. citizen and my wife is an Indian citizen still living in India. I'm about to prepare my taxes and need an ITIN for my wife. For this, it seems she needs a certified copy of her passport which she can only get at a U.S. Consulate. Unfortunately she would have to travel far to another city to get this done. Can we do one of the following:

1. Just get an Indian notary to certify the copy of her passport
2. Have her FedEx her passport to me in the U.S. and I can go to a local notary here and get the copy notarized and send the passport back to her.

Thanks.

Sorry for the delay in answering; there was a glitch in the updating process on my computer.

1) Use of the Indian notary should be sufficient. However, a phone call to the IRS should be made to confirm this.

2) This option is a viable alternative. However, make the phone call first.

Pradeep,

How did you resolve your issue? The same problem happened to me. Can you please help me?

Thanks,
Raksha

The passport may also be certified by the agency in India which issued the passport.

As a note to Five Rings and to correct my 2007 posting:

The IRS will not accept notarized or certified documents that are notaized by an Indian notary or certified by an Indian government official.

I recognize that the W-7 instructions specifically state that either form of certification is accepted, but I had multiple clients' Forms W-7 rejected with these two type of certifications for Tax Year 2006.

The ONLY certification proof that the IRS currently accepts is certification from the U.S. embassy in India or by a U.S. consulate office.

Did you complain to the ITIN Unit and seek clarification?

After reading various posts on this forum, I finally decided to take my wife's passport, the W-7 and my federal return to the IRS office in downtown San Jose, CA. This particular office said that they would not themselves notarize any document. However, they said that they would accept my W7+Federal Tax return for Married filing joint if I had the original passport, photocopies of the passport pages (I did not notarize them in any form what so ever) and my tax return.

The officer looked at the original passport and accepted the application, saying that it would be forwarded to the IRS ITIN service center and then to where the taxes are filed.

I do not recall if he actually stamped the photo copies with anything that said "notarized". He stamped photocopies of the W-7 and the first page of the 1040 with the "IRS received" blue stamps and handed them back to me, keeping the original W7 and the 1040 with him.

Roughly 4 weeks from when I submitted that application, I received an ITIN from my wife in the mail. Now, I look forward to the refund.

Cool.

Now, if someone in India, China, The Philippines, Thailand, Brazil, etc. can just find one of those IRS offices nearby like you did they will not have any problems in getting a number.

Good for you.

My question is for "AtlantaTaxExpert" .
I have got my wife's passport copy certified by U.S. embassy in India and still the same was rejected saying "Name did not matched".

I called IRS and was suggsted to talk to Legal Dept.
Legal Dept has suggested to get her passport copy certified by the issuing agency or official
Custodian of the original record. i.e. "Indian Immigration Department"

Now this looks ambigous from what you said.
Please advice.?

Yes, the name of your wife on W7 must match with her name of the passport.

Her passport may be with her previous name (name before marriage) and you may be using her name after marriage that is with your last name.
So either get the name changed on the passport or rite her name as on passport on the form W7. If you use previous name on form W7, then even on tax return you must use the same name.

Thanks MukatA,

But I have not changed her name either in passport Or in W-7. Her name is same as before marriage and in passport and in w-7 form.

Any more suggestions..

Under new procedures, you need to get the passport notarized, then get an "apostille" from the government agent that issued the passport to certify that the notarized passport is authentic.

Effective sometime in 2009 (the effective dates vary from country to country), neither the U.S. embassy nor any of the U.S. consulate offices will certify the passport photocopy as authentic.

Thanks Atlanta,

Would an "apostille" from "Indian Immigration Department" works for this ?

This is from the instructions of Form W-7 (March 2009):
You can submit the copies of the original document if you do any of the following.

* Have the copies certified by the issuing agency or official custodian of the original record.

* Have the copies notarized by a U.S. notary public legally authorized within his or her local jurisdiction to certify that the document is a true copy of the original. To do this, the notary must see the valid, unaltered original document and verify that the copy conforms to the original. Consular offices at U.S. Embassies are Consulate overseas may not certify true copies of foreign public documents and will refer applicants to the foreign authority that issued the document.

* Have the copies notarized by a foreign notary. However, foreign notaries are only acceptable as outline by the Hague Convention. The Hague Convention provides for the simplified certification of public (including notarized) documents to be used in countries that have joined the Convention. A certification will be issued in the form of an "apostille," which will be attached to the copy of the doucment. If the document originates in a country that is not party to the Convention, applicants should have the document certified by the foreign authority that issued it.
Note. The apostille must stay attached to the copy of the document when it is sent to the IRS.

Yes, the apostille from the Indian Immigration Department should work.

See this link:

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0, id=96690,00.html

They clearly say that they accept copies of original documents, if the copies have been properly certified or notorized by: employees of the U.S. State Department located in U.S. embassies and consulates abroad

And on the next line they say that the "alternative" procedure can be to get an apostille. My wife went to US consulate in Bombay and specifically said she needs a notarization for ITIN. The american lady gave her the notarization without hesitation and attached a first approval page saying the attached documents are sufficient. Now I don't understand why would IRS reject these. There is a fair chance that we will get an ITIN for her.

See this link:

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0, id=96690,00.html

They clearly say that they accept copies of original documents, if the copies have been properly certified or notorized by: employees of the U.S. State Department located in U.S. embassies and consulates abroad

And on the next line they say that the "alternative" procedure can be to get an apostille. My wife went to US consulate in Bombay and specifically said she needs a notarization for ITIN. The american lady gave her the notarization without hesitation and attached a first approval page saying the attached documents are sufficient. Now I don't understand why would IRS reject these. There is a fair chance that we will get an ITIN for her.

Notarized by a U.S. notary public legally authorized within his or
Her local jurisdiction to certify that the document is a true copy of
The original. To do this, the notary must see the valid, unaltered
Original document and verify that the copy conforms to the original.
U.S. notaries public are available at U.S. embassies and consulates
Worldwide. Foreign notaries are acceptable as outlined by the Hague
Convention.

-- Only if we are using a foreign notary, we need to follow the hague convention and get the apostille

Any comments ?

http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/dec/21hague.htm
According to this, India is a part of the Hague Convention...

My case is same as kudosToTax guy. I have asked my wife to get an apostille from the US embassy in Mumbai. I have a question though. Once my wife gets the required certified copy with an apostille, does she need to courier me the copies or can she scan the certified copies and send it to me?

http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/dec/21hague.htm
According to this, India is a part of the Hague Convention...

My case is same as kudosToTax guy. I have asked my wife to get an apostille from the US embassy in Mumbai. I have a question though. Once my wife gets the required certified copy with an apostille, does she need to courier me the copies or can she scan the certified copies and send it to me?