How is a Nonresident Spouse Treated under ObamaCare?
i’m foreigner under visa non residence the past 5 years! However just get married and still under process for applying for a green card .
Is it an obligation for me to make an application for Obamacare or to get insurance ? Or do I wait until I get a green card?
What about my wife , we do join Taxes , and seems unfair about obamacare for her ? Because if we do separate taxes she will be support by the obamacare, but because we are married she will Have to pay a lot .
How does that should work?
Answer
As we understand Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident for tax purposes will still be required to get health coverage or pay a fee.
We would appreciate if folks dealing with this situation left comments so we can get to the bottom of how this works. We've looked through IRS documents and the law and can't find any special rules that apply to this scenario. If you weren't filing jointly, then the nonresident spouse would be exempt and the resident spouse would be eligible for cost assistance. Since cost assistance and the fee are based on income, filing jointly can affect that too.
Learn more about nonresident spouses from the IRS.
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My spouse is not a US citizen, does not live in US and is a student who has no income. I am a US citizen and live and work here. He has no SSN. I make less than 20k a year but I am told I do not qualify for assistance because I am married filing singly. I was told that if I file jointly, I qualify for assistance but am required to supply my spouse’s SSN. He has no SSN. I have spoken to my tax guy and the Obamacare folks. My application has been elevated (whatever that means) but I’ve heard nothing from anyone and the deadline is looming. Before Obamacare, I paid 230 a month for my BlueCross policy. Now it costs over 700 a month and without assistance, I can’t afford any health insurance policy that is close to the coverage I used to have.
If you pay taxes in the US and are unofficially living here then generally you can get cost assistance. Only Medicaid / Medicare care about official citizenship and time in the country. You may have to call HealthCare.Gov directly and get some more focused advice. It is our understanding that you should be able to file married if you are married using the proper documentation that proves you are both in the U.S. legally.
The reason this answer isn’t more specific is because immigration is a complex subject and some VISA types and such have special rules. So general advice, but do call HealthCare.Gov until you get an answer that makes sense.
Hi John.
My situation is pretty much the same, I’m a resident alien -living and working in the U.S.-married to a foreigner – living and working outside the U.S.
Was anyone able to give you any advice?
I’m in the same boat. If anyone has a solution please post.
I am a Non-Resident alien with a Work Visa and resident for tax purposes and have filed taxes single until 2015. I married to a foreigner in July and we traveled back to US in August. He was added to my insurance in September and was covered for 4 months in 2016 (Sep 1 through Dec 31). Will I be penalized for his not being covered all year even though he was physically here for tax purposes for 4 months after we were married?