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No Rebates for Immigrant Taxpayers—or Yank Spouses

Caught in rules designed to cut illegal immigrants

By Laurel Jorgensen,  Newser Staff

Posted May 12, 2008 3:30 AM CDT
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(Newser) – 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.”  

Stimulus payments roll off printing presses at the San Francisco Regional Financial Center in Emeryville, Calif., Thursday, May 8, 2008.
Stimulus payments roll off printing presses at the San Francisco Regional Financial Center in Emeryville, Calif., Thursday, May 8, 2008.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Ranjeet Kumar and wife, Minanshu Jha, hold a copy of their tax forms at their home in San Jose, Calif. Over a million legal immigrants and Americans who married foreigners won't get rebates.
Ranjeet Kumar and wife, Minanshu Jha, hold a copy of their tax forms at their home in San Jose, Calif. Over a million legal immigrants and Americans who married foreigners won't get rebates.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
U.S. Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral, left, watches as stimulus checks roll off presses at the San Francisco Regional Financial Center in Emeryville, Calif., Thursday, May 8, 2008.
U.S. Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral, left, watches as stimulus checks roll off presses at the San Francisco Regional Financial Center in Emeryville, Calif., Thursday, May 8, 2008.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
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illegal immigrant • green card • Social Security • Internal Revenue Service • economic stimulus package • tax rebate • economy

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