How to Apply for an ITIN Without an SSN: Form W-7 and Documents

To apply for an ITIN without an SSN, complete IRS Form W-7, attach it to the federal tax return that requires the number, and submit the package with original or certified identity documents by mail, at a participating IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center, or through an IRS-authorized Certifying Acceptance Agent. Processing usually runs about seven weeks, stretching to nine or eleven weeks during filing season or when applying from abroad.¹

Confirm You Need an ITIN

An ITIN is a nine-digit tax processing number for people who have a federal tax obligation but cannot get a Social Security Number.² The typical applicants are nonresident aliens filing a U.S. return or claiming a treaty benefit, resident aliens who must file but don’t qualify for an SSN, and the foreign spouses or dependents of U.S. citizens or residents who appear on someone else’s return.

One boundary worth being blunt about: the ITIN is a tax number and nothing else. It does not authorize work in the United States, change immigration status, or make you eligible for Social Security benefits.² It is not accepted on Form I-9, and it isn’t valid identification outside the federal tax system.

Fill Out Form W-7

The application itself is Form W-7, “Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.”³ You’ll provide your legal name exactly as it appears on your identity documents, your mailing address, a permanent foreign address if it’s different, your date and place of birth, your country of citizenship, and the specific reason you need the number.⁴

Name consistency across every document you send matters. If your passport and birth certificate spell your name differently, the IRS will flag it. Reconcile the discrepancy before you file.

Attach Your Tax Return

In most cases, Form W-7 travels with a federal tax return. You put the W-7 on the front of the return and send them together; the IRS assigns the ITIN, then processes the return.⁵ Because the package is paper, you cannot e-file a return that needs a new ITIN. Plan for that.

Five narrow exception categories let you submit the W-7 without a return: certain passive income with withholding or treaty coverage, treaty claims on wages or scholarships, third-party mortgage interest reporting, U.S. real property dispositions by a foreign person, and non-U.S. representatives of a foreign corporation with an e-filing requirement.⁵ If one applies, you send the W-7 with documentation for the exception at any point in the year rather than waiting for filing season. Most applicants don’t qualify and should assume the return is required.

Gather Identity and Foreign Status Documents

You must prove two things: who you are, and that you have a connection to a foreign country. A valid passport, submitted as an original or a certified copy from the issuing government, does both jobs alone.⁴ Without a passport, you need at least two documents from the IRS’s accepted list, and between them they must cover identity and foreign status. Common alternatives include:

National identification card showing name, photo, address, date of birth, and expiration date
Civil birth certificate
U.S. visa issued by the State Department
Foreign driver’s license
Foreign military identification card

Everything must be an original or a certified copy issued directly by the agency that produced the document. Certified means the issuing government’s seal or stamp, not a notary public’s stamp on a photocopy. Notarized copies are rejected. The one narrow carve-out is for dependents of U.S. military personnel, who may submit notarized copies.⁴

Applying for a Dependent

Children have additional document options. For a dependent under age 6, medical records can prove identity when they show the child’s name, date of birth, address, the doctor’s name, the facility’s address, and a date of care within 12 months of the application. For a dependent under 24 who is a student, school records work on the same principle: student name and address, school name and address, and term dates ending within 12 months of the application. Printed electronic versions of either count as originals.⁶

A practical wrinkle: IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers cannot authenticate school or medical records in person. Even if you handle the adult side of the application at a TAC, the dependent’s records need to go through the mail.¹

Choose How to Submit

Four routes are open, and the right one usually depends on whether you can be without your passport for two months.

By Mail

Send the complete package to IRS ITIN Operation, P.O. Box 149342, Austin, TX 78714-9342.⁴ It’s the simplest option, but your originals leave your possession for weeks. The IRS aims to return mailed documents to the address on line 2 of your W-7 within 60 days.¹ If you travel or need the passport for anything else in that window, pick a different method.

IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center

Certain TACs offer ITIN services, review the W-7, authenticate your documents on the spot, and hand them back before you leave. The service is free. Appointments are required and openings can be weeks out. Call 844-545-5640 to schedule and confirm the location handles ITIN applications.¹

VITA Site With ITIN Services

Some Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites host IRS-authorized Certifying Acceptance Agents who can complete the W-7, authenticate most documents, return them the same day, and prepare your return for free if you’re eligible.⁷ VITA-based agents cannot authenticate foreign military IDs or most dependent documents beyond passports and birth certificates, so those still travel by mail.

Certifying Acceptance Agent

A Certifying Acceptance Agent is a private professional authorized by the IRS to verify most documents in person and submit the application for you. This is often the most workable option from outside the United States. Fees are set by each agent and vary. The IRS keeps a searchable directory of authorized agents.⁸

How Long It Takes

Expect about seven weeks between submission and receiving your ITIN notice under ordinary conditions. Between January 15 and April 30, or if you filed from overseas, plan on nine to eleven weeks.¹ The IRS mails the assigned number; there is no online status portal.

If you mailed originals and they haven’t come back by day 60, contact the IRS directly.²

If the Application Is Rejected

Rejections typically trace to a few fixable problems: an incomplete form, supporting documents that don’t match the W-7 or aren’t valid, or an IRS follow-up request that never got a reply. The rejection notice, CP567, will identify the specific issue, and you can resubmit a corrected application.⁹

Renewing an Expired ITIN

An ITIN that isn’t used on a federal return for three consecutive tax years expires on December 31 of that third year. ITINs issued before 2013 that were never renewed have already expired regardless of use.¹⁰ Renewal uses the same Form W-7 with the renewal box checked, and the documentation and return-attachment rules are identical.⁵ If you no longer have a U.S. tax obligation, you don’t need to renew.

What You Can and Can’t Claim With an ITIN

Once the number arrives, a few tax credits are off the table. The Earned Income Tax Credit requires a Social Security Number for the taxpayer and any qualifying children, without exception.² The Child Tax Credit is similar: under IRC Section 24(h)(7), the taxpayer must have an SSN (or, on a joint return, at least one spouse must), and each qualifying child must also have an SSN issued before the return’s due date.¹¹ The base CTC is $2,200 per qualifying child, with an inflation adjustment for tax years beginning after 2025. Filing with only an ITIN, you won’t receive it.

The Credit for Other Dependents remains available and is worth up to $500 per dependent. Dependents with ITINs qualify as long as they are U.S. citizens, nationals, or resident aliens.¹² It applies to dependents who don’t qualify for the CTC, and ITIN filers should claim it when they can.

1
Internal Revenue Service. How to Apply for an ITIN
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Internal Revenue Service. Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form W-7, Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form W-7
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form W-7 (Rev. December 2024)
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Internal Revenue Service. ITIN Supporting Documents
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Internal Revenue Service. Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Sites With ITIN Services
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Internal Revenue Service. ITIN Acceptance Agent Program
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Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your CP567 Notice
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Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 857, Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 24 – Child Tax Credit
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Internal Revenue Service. Understanding the Credit for Other Dependents