[kimuchi]

Hello,
I am a non resident alien (Japan) on F-1 (now OPT) and my wife is a non resident alien (Japan) on F-1. I earn income but my wife does not earn any income. Both of us went to a graduated school in the US from Jan to beginning of May in the tax year. During going to the graduated school, our Japanese child went to a child care (our child continues to go to the same child care currently.).
In this situation, can I claim Child Care Expense Credit for the time (Jan to beginning of May) when we were going to the graduated school?
I am worried that non resident alien can file a tax return only under "Other Married Non Resident Alien" filing status but it seems that in order to claim Child Care Expense Credit, filing under "Married Filing Jointly" status.
Also, I am worried if my wife can be a student for the tax credit purposes because the instruction for Form 2441 says that "Your spouse was a student if he or she was enrolled as a full-time student at a school during any 5 months of the tax year" but my wife has been attending from Jan to beginning of May, not to end of May.
If you also tell me a relevant instruction published by IRS, I would appreciate.
Thank you for your help.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Unfortunately, your interpretation of the rules is correct.

As a married non-resident alien, you generally CANNOT claim the Child Care Credit unless you can claim the child as your dependents, and, under the new Japan-U.S. Tax Treaty, Japanese students under the F-1 visa CANNOT claim their children as dependents.

Now, if you convert to a H-1 or H-1B visa after your OPT, and decide to file jointly with your wife, THEN you can claim your child as a dependent and then you can claim the Child Care Credit.