<p>my parents were married in NY, but then my father is not a legal resident of the United States and he has no SS # and he lives in Hong Kong right now, so should i put my father's info on fafsa , but if i do, does it affect the amount of financial aid? Thank you for answering.</p>
<p>Yes, you must convert his income to US funds and report it. If he files a tax return in Hong Kong, you must use his tax info & report as if it was US - if he doesn't file, you put it all in untaxable income. You list his social security number as all 0's. As long as your mom's SSN is valid, you'll clear the SSN match. And yes, your dad's income will affect your EFC.</p>
<p>What if he doesn't have work in Hong Kong??</p>
<p>Do you mean that he doesn't work at all, or that he works, but not in Hong Kong?</p>
<p>If he is working anywhere, you have to include his income. If he doesn't work, be prepared to explain how he lives on no income.</p>
<p>If your parents are married, living together or not, you need to include all of every body's income from wherever they are living/working</p>
<p>if my dad does not have social security number, does it affect the amount of aid i will receive a lot?</p>
<p>On FAFSA, if the parents are separated, you treat it as if they're divorced. Check the Divorced/Separated box. Mom is the Custodial Parent, so you'd exclude Dad's income info entirely.</p>
<p>If parents are married and not planning to divorce, but for some reason maintaining two households, they file using both persons info. This came from two different school's finaid advisors</p>
<p>no my parents do not have 2 separate households, just my dad is not a legal resident in America, so he can only stay in Hong Kong alone</p>
<p>Sounds like a pretty good definition of separated. They live on separate continents, and Dad cannot live here. Just use the Mom's info if FAFSA. Profile will likely have you do a non-custodial on Dad. </p>
<p>There's no requirement that separated parents "plan to divorce" in order to list them as separated on FAFSA.</p>
<p>Hmm, interesting, when DH and I were in separate states we were told to file together for FAFSA</p>
<p>No, that is not correct. You cannot just claim that they are separated just because they don't live together. If there is no legal separation, you need to be able to prove separate lives ... different addresses, separate incomes, etc. In the case of dad in another country, if mom is in U.S. & not working ... who is supporting the family? If it's dad in another country, then they are not separated in the way that this term implies.</p>
<p>Well, they clearly have separate addresses- he's not allowed to live in the US. They clearly have separate incomes, to the extent that either of them work. They apparently aren't filing joint taxes (he as no SS#). And if he helps support his child here in the US, well, that's what we'd expect either from a Dad who's separated, or from a Dad who's divorced.</p>
<p>They're separated. The only other issue, and the issue that the FAFSA detailed instructions addresses, is whether they have an intent to reconcile. OP hasn't mentioned any plan to move back in together. So absent that, these circumstances would appear to meet the FAFSA guidelines for filing as separated.</p>
<p>I can tell you that I would require an explanation of how the mother lives on no income, if she does not have income. If it is the father who is providing the income, and if they are married with no legal separation, I would require the father's financial info and use it in figuring the EFC.</p>
<p>actually my mom has an income of $27000 for the yr of 2008 and my dad who lives in Hong Kong, barely works.</p>
<p>If the Dad has low income, then it won't affect FAFSA EFC much, will it? Unless he has some amazing assets some where</p>
<p>Frankly, I don't understand why you wouldn't just include your dad. It doesn't sound like it's going to hurt you - so why not just be honest & include his info?</p>
<p>OK… so my husband and I live in Florida, which does not recognize a “legal separation,” but we have not lived together in 4 years. When filling out my FAFSA I was told that his income would not be considered, now that I am registered at school and going through the financial aid process, the FA Office at my school has told me that I have to lie and say that he lives with me and include his income. I do not understand because they initially requested documentations proving our separation (i.e. separate leases, letters, utility bills), all of which I provided, now they are saying because we filed our income taxes as joint (we can do this since we are still legally married), that I would need to include him. Can anyone verify this? It just doesn’t seem right to me. I don’t get why I would have to fill out verification of independence forms and proof of separation if that were the case.</p>
<p>for what benefit to you is there to lie and say that your “separated H” lives with you?</p>
<p>the FA office should NOT be telling you to lie…no matter what.</p>
<p>Did they say why they want his income on the forms? Would they be asking this if you were in the process of divorce?</p>
<p>How you file your taxes has very little to do with FAFSA rules and I’m also stumped as to why they would tell you to do this. If you’re an independent student and you include his income on your FAFSA it will only increase your EFC, which I assume is not what you want. I would not do this…if the school feels an error has been made on FAFSA they are able to make changes themselves. But the FAFSA instructions clearly state that separated people do NOT include the spouses income/assets on FAFSA.</p>