ITIN for Spouse

[rajesh7788]

Hello, I am currently on H1b visa and I was on H1b throughout 2019 and present in the US.
My spouse arrived in US on August 2019. I am not sure if I should file Married/Jointly and apply for ITIN or not.
There are some sources says that I can't do that since my spouse wasn't present in the US for 183 days during 2019 where others say I can. So I am not sure.
Has anyone face this situation? Please guide.
Thank you!

[newacct]

As long as you are resident, you can use Nonresident Spouse Treated as Resident to treat both of you as residents for the whole year and file as Married Filing Jointly (even if your spouse has never been to the US). Note that treating your spouse as resident the whole year would subject their worldwide income from the whole year to US tax, although they may be able to use the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion to not pay tax on foreign income from the period before they came.

Alternately, you could file as Married Filing Separately, though the taxes will generally be less favorable.

[rajesh7788]

Thank you!!