No Rebates for Immigrant Taxpayers—or Yank Spouses

Hundreds of thousands of legal, taxpaying immigrants and their Americans spouses are among the unhappy few who won’t be getting a tax rebate check, AP reports. Taxpayers need a Social Security number to qualify—a rule intended to carve out illegal immigrants. Also inadvertently cut from the benefit are legal residents and American citizens—including US soldiers—who filed jointly with a spouse without a Social Security number, which can take years to obtain.

“My friends, my co-workers, everyone is getting this, but not me,” said a taxpaying software engineer with a work visa. “I know they want to exclude illegal immigrants—but I’m not illegal. I’ve done everything I was supposed to do.”   (More economy stories.)