<p>So both of my parents are undocumented immigrants (but mom has social #, i don't know why though). My mom has been filing her taxes ever since she arrived here and has been filing as the head of household. My dad on the other hand never filed his taxes. He currently lives in Korea and plans to stay there and has been living there since this past July.
When filling out financial aid documents, for example the CSS Profile, is my dad considered my non-custodial parent?</p>
<p>Your mom most likely has a tax payer id number. this is not a social security number and should not be used as one on your financial aid documents. When you fill out the FAFSA, you should put in all 000000000 for the social security number for your mother if she is not a US citizen or Permanent resident.</p>
<p>Yes, your dad is your non custodial parent. Even though he lives out of the country, if the college you are applying to needs information from him, you must supply it. If you do not your application will be considered incomplete and you will not receive institutional aid at schools that require the information.</p>
<p>@sybbie719 </p>
<p>don’t we need clarification in regards to the dad?</p>
<p>@phonix7 Are your parents “separated”? I don’t mean just living in separate places because of jobs. I mean, is their marriage breaking up? </p>
<p>If your parents are still married, and still want to be married, but they’re just living in two countries because of economic reasons or some other reason, then your dad is ALSO your custodial parent.</p>
<p>Your dad would ONLY be your NCP if your parents’ marriage is in trouble, they’ve separated, and he’s moved out.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids They are married, but my mom said that she doesn’t have any proof of marriage in the United States (they do have it in Korea where my parents got married), so it is like they were never married (at least in the states). I don’t know if that has anything to do with my dad being a non custodial parent or not. One thing for sure, there isn’t any marriage issues. Just separated because of jobs.</p>
<p>Unless I’m mistaken…your parents are viewed as separated for financial aid application purposes. They don’t live together, and they are maintaining two households. Your mom will be the custodial parent, and your dad the non-custodial parent, if I am correct.</p>
<p>If I am NOT correct, your parents would both be custodial parents. </p>
<p>How long has your mom been filing as head of household? I think there is a time frame for living apart where this is allowed…and I don’t think it’s four months. But someone with more tax experience than I have will need to clarify this. If she is truthfully permitted to file as HOH, fine. If not, she will need to amend her taxes and file correctly.</p>
<p>To qualify for head of household, the tax payer has to have provided financial support to the qualifying person (usually a child) for more than half the year. Normally, the cut off is July 2, so if the father left before July 2, the mother would probably qualify. If not, she can probably still file as married. Because of the non-citizen status, I don’t know if it matters as I’m not sure what credits and deductions she’s entitled to.</p>
<p>@thumper1 That is what I was thinking to…separated just for financial aid application purposes. She has been filing as the head of household the entire time. </p>
<p>She was filing as Head Of Household when your dad was living with you?</p>
<p>Unlike some other countries, the US doesn’t require that married people re-marry here, or re-legalize their marriage here. Married in Korea = married here. If your mom and dad were living together she should have filed as married. Whether she qualifies for HOH now is a whole different thing.</p>
<p>Depending on your mom’s status when she arrived in the US, she may have a SSN that was valid for work (or some other purpose) in that visa status. If she fell out of status and over-stayed the end of her visa, technically she should not be working, but she still has an SSN.</p>
<p>I just want to say that this is probably the single most interesting question I have yet seen on CC.</p>
<p>I believe your mother’s status is probably “permanent resident.” Even though undocumented, she has lived here long term and has no intention of leaving.</p>
<p>You didn’t state that you were born in the US. If you were, then you are a natural US citizen, and your mother has a good argument about why she should be (or was) allowed to stay here to raise you, at least until you reach your majority.</p>
<p>Your parents’ marriage is presumably perfectly valid. They don’t need a marriage license from a US state to be married. States recognize marriages validly performed elsewhere, as a rule, although there are exceptions (for example, they might not recognize polygamous marriages, or marriages when there is too high a degree of consanguinity). Proof of marriage can be extrinsic - for example, referring to each other as “my husband” and “my wife.” A license is simply proof that a marriage was registered with the state, not a requirement for the marriage to be valid.</p>
<p>There is a tax filing status “married filing separately” for couples who, for whatever reasons, live apart but have no intention of ending their marriage. However, I believe your mother’s correct status <em>should</em> be “married filing jointly,” not “head of household,” if your father is not filing a tax return of his own and she is providing him support. (No different from a stay-at-home parent.) I believe “head of household” is intended for people who support someone other than a spouse or child. I am not a tax expert, so you should check on that.</p>
<p>If your parents maintain their marriage - for example, if one parent could go at any time to spend married time living with the other - then they are not two separate households, they are one household who have two different residences. Your usual residence would be whichever you stay in for the majority of nights in the previous year, but there would not be any question of custody - both your parents are considered to be raising you with shared physical and legal custody, just like any other intact family. </p>
<p>There are actually married couples with intact families who find, for various reasons, that it works best for their circumstances if one parent stays primarily in one residence and the other stays primarily in another residence. It’s unusual, but not unheard of or illegal in any way.</p>
<p>No proof is needed for the marriage. They are married. Period.</p>
<p>If their marriage isn’t breaking up, then BOTH parents are custodial.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter that they are living in two different countries.</p>
<p>This would ONLY be a NCP situation if the parents have decided that their marriage isn’t working out, and one parent moves out (in or out of the country).</p>
<p>Both of YOUR parents are custodial. </p>
<p>
This is incorrect. The term “permanent resident” denotes the immigration status of a person who is authorized to live and work in the US permanently. They would hold a green card as a lawful permanent resident.</p>
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<p>This is incorrect. HOH is intended for an unmarried person(divorced, single, separated(if the spouse did not live in the household the last 6 months of the year)) who supports a qualifying child or other qualifying relative.</p>
<p>For tax purposes, the OP’s mother should be discussing the situation with someone who is qualified and able to give direct advice about it. I live in an area where there are a lot of illegal immigrants, and many of them who are married, and even have the spouse here, file as HOH. Yes, I’ve seen this personally. I have been asked to assist with document preparation and tax returns for groups here and have refused to do so, because there is just so much I see that is not being done legally, legitimately. </p>
<p>For FAFSA purposes, the student can file that the parents are separated. Definition of “separated” is different for FAFSA than for tax purposes, and that dad is gone would suffice, especially with the tax form showing mom as the HOH. FAFSA would not require the father’s info. Any money that the father has given for child support, household expenses should be included on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>For PROFILE schools, yes, you either need to request a NCP Waiver from EACH school to which you apply that requires one and then give each school the info that it requires for consideration of such waiver. Otherwise the father does have to complete the NCP PROFILE for the fin aid application to be complete.</p>
<p>As to whether that is a tax id number or a social security number that mom uses to file taxes, the OP needs to find out. If it’s a tax id number, then the zeroes are used for FAFSA. If the mom has been filing taxes under a social security number, that needs to be used, as verification will check the tax form against the FAFSA.</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse </p>
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<p>That isn’t correct. The parents aren’t separated. they simply live in two sep countries…likely because the parents were illegally here, and the dad found it difficult/impossible to make a decent living…so he likely returned to their home country to work…maybe with the plan that the mom will join him once kids are launched.</p>
<p>The way it works, is that the FAFSA is generally verified against the tax forms. If mom is HOH, then dad is not so listed there. So parents are separated as far as the IRS is concerned. If I recall, the FAFSA form only as if the parents are separated and don’t live together, Though this source is a bit outdated, I don’t think the main points about separation for FAFSA purposes is that different today: <a href=“Divorce and Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid;
<p>We can go on ad finitum on what is precisely the way things work on these forms. The fact of the matter is that if a school fin aid officer looks at some of these situations very carefully, it is indeed possible that some questions can arise, and one can be required to toe the line very precisely, but in terms of how a student should proceed on these things a lot of the advice is too stringent and not the way it should be done.</p>
<p>IMO, the OP’s mother should not be filing HOH, but she shouldn’t be here and working either… She’s here ILLEGALLY. But the questions the OP asks is not addressing these issues but the best way to present the situation as it is. Mom has and is filing taxes as HOH. Dad is out of the country and who knows what the situation is with him? I see no reason why after FAFSA verifies with the tax returns that they are going to ask any more questions about the situation unless there is some flag that indicates mom is living a lot better than her income would support, in which case questions about additional support and other sources of income may arise, but that usually happens at very low income levels where it is clear that something else has to be in the picture to be paying the bills. I’ve seen such cases, and if the parent/child are living with relatives , then that’s left as that in every case I’ve seen. </p>
<p>I think the OP needs to talk to an expert on the subject, probably a lawyer who deals with both tax and immigration issues. I don’t think we qualify as experts.</p>
<p>We aren’t FA experts, but @kelsmom is. Hopefully, she will chime in.</p>
<p>From other posts, we’ve learned that when a spouse lives in the US and the other spouse lives outside, then the US spouse files as HOH. That wouldn’t be right if the other spouse is just living in another state.</p>
<p>FOr FAFSA purposes, mom is separated because she is still married and not living with spouse . Only her income assets in addition to any child /spousal support she receives will be on the fafsa as the custodial parent.</p>
<p>For the CSS profile:from PROFILE 2015-16
FAQs and Glossary</p>
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<p>@sybbie719 </p>
<p>I still don’t think that applies. That is talking about parents who consider themselves to be “separated” (meaning marriage is in trouble, so they separate, but aren’t yet divorced)…it does not mean married but living in two different places due to job or immigration issues.</p>
<p>Many happily married couples have to live in two different places for awhile for various reasons…that does not mean that they are “separated.”</p>
<p>We need @kelsmom to chime in here. </p>