Three Residency Statuses

The first step in assisting international students and scholars is determining their residency status for tax purposes.

All noncitizens or nonnationals of the U.S. are considered aliens. There are three types of aliens for tax purposes:

• Resident: U.S. residents who meet either the green card test or the substantial presence test
• Nonresident: Persons who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents of the United States
• Dual status: Persons who are both nonresidents and resident aliens in the same tax year

Resident aliens are taxed like U.S. citizens, while nonresident aliens are taxed differently. Most students fall under the nonresident alien status.

Click here to refer to the Nonresident Alien or Resident Alien? - Decision Tree from Publication 4011.