lived in U.S. as kid has tax ID - need to apply for SSN?

dubdub123

Hi - my daughter is looking to go on the J1 visa to the U.S. next summer. we lived in the U.S. when she was a child and I think she must have had a Tax ID number (TIN) for tax purposes at that time. I was sponsored by a company and she had visa etc all in place. Can she use this as an SSN or does she need to apply separately? I'll need to dig my old tax returns out to double check but pretty sure she had a TIN. Thanks !

silja

A TIN is not the same as a SSN, but she may well have had both if you lived there for a while.

dubdub123

Pretty sure she didn't have an SSN just a tax number for tax purposes - she's not a citizen or anything and was there as my dependent - she'll probably need to apply like all other students so, i wasn't sure if she might be able to use the TIN instead but maybe not. Thanks

ProudDUB

If she is going to live and work (as a grown up) in the US, she will have to get a social security number of her own. Even if she is only going to be there for a few months on a J1, she'll still need one. Her tax ID number from when she was a child won't be enough.

dubdub123

Hey - that's the situation exactly, wasn't sure if she'd need to go through the same process. That's grand thanks for the info.