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What documents you need for an ITIN, and the one that replaces the rest

Last updated 30 July 2026

A passport is the only stand-alone document. Send an original valid passport, or a certified copy of one, and nothing else from the document list goes with it.

Without a passport the IRS wants two documents instead. One proves that you are not a U.S. citizen or resident, and the second proves who you are.

The rule that costs people months sits in one word. A certified copy comes from the issuing agency, with its stamped seal, and a notarised copy is not the same thing.

Thirteen documents are accepted in total. Every rule below is published by the IRS and was checked on 30 July 2026.

Who is the ITIN for?
The short version

The one document that replaces every other

The IRS puts it plainly. A passport is the only stand-alone document, and an original valid passport or a certified copy of one satisfies both halves of the requirement at once.

Both halves matter, because every other document only covers one of them. A passport proves identity and foreign status together, which is why one item can end the whole exercise.

The catch is dates. A passport counts as current only if its expiration date has not passed before the day Form W-7 is submitted, and the same rule applies to a national identification card.

The word that bounces applications

What a certified copy actually is

The IRS defines a certified copy as an exact copy of the original that the original issuing agency provides and certifies. It carries that agency's official stamped seal.

Read that again on the word agency. The passport office or the registry that issued the document is the only body that can certify it.

A notary, a lawyer or an embassy stamp is a different thing, and this is one of the quiet reasons applications come back months later.

The guide on a rejected ITIN covers the rest of those reasons. Applying without travelling covers what a certified copy saves you.

Everything on the list

The thirteen documents the IRS accepts

The full list, so this page works with the tool above switched off. The IRS sorts them by what each one proves, and that sorting is the whole logic of the application.

The one that stands alone

Accepted as identity or foreign status

Without a passport, the document covering foreign status has to come from this group. Two of them are limited to dependents by age.

Accepted as identity only

These four prove who you are and nothing more, so one of them alone is never a complete application.

The extra step

When the ITIN is for a dependent

A dependent has one more thing to prove, which is U.S. residency.

A passport carrying a U.S. date of entry also proves U.S. residency. Without that stamp, one U.S. residency document goes in alongside it.

Which residency document is accepted depends on the dependent's age:

The IRS publishes two exceptions to that requirement:

Both are conditional, and the conditions are the part worth getting right rather than guessing at. That is a question for the call.

The package

What goes in the envelope

The IRS lists three things in an application package:

The documents are one of the three, which is why gathering them right is worth an afternoon.

Whether a return travels with a first application depends on your own situation, and that is what the assessment call settles.

The clock

How long the IRS says it takes

The IRS asks you to allow 7 weeks for a notice about your application status.

It says that can run to 9 to 11 weeks in tax season, which it defines as 15 January to 30 April, or if you applied from overseas.

That is the government's own figure for its own queue, and nobody shortens it from the outside.

What can be shortened is everything before it, which is the gathering, the certifying and the redo when a document was wrong.

How long an ITIN really takes follows the whole clock, and what it costs puts price and timeline side by side.

If you would rather have the application handled end to end, the ITIN service is on the main site.

FAQ

Do I have to send my original passport to the IRS?
Not necessarily. The IRS accepts an original valid passport or a certified copy of one, and a passport is the only document that stands on its own, so nothing else from the list goes with it.
Can a notary certify my documents?
No. The IRS defines a certified copy as an exact copy that the original issuing agency provides and certifies, carrying that agency's official stamped seal. A notary stamp is a different thing, and this is one of the classic reasons an application comes back.
My passport has expired. Does it still count?
The IRS treats a passport and a national identification card as current only if the expiration date has not passed before the day Form W-7 is submitted. A civil birth certificate is current at all times, because it carries no expiration date.
What if I do not have a passport at all?
Then two documents go in instead of one. One has to prove foreign status, from the group the IRS accepts for that, and a second proves identity. Both have to be originals or certified copies.
How long does the IRS take to answer?
The IRS asks you to allow 7 weeks for a notice about your status, and says it can take 9 to 11 weeks in tax season, which it defines as 15 January to 30 April, or if you applied from overseas.

Have the list checked before it travels

Fifteen minutes, your own documents, and the order they go in. Free, and you fill a short form first so the call is about your case rather than about the rules.

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