<prompt> Human: My wife and I have been married since March of this year she does not have a social security number because she is not here legally we have applied for all the necessary paperwork though I was just curious if I can claim her as a dependent if we dont have any social security or alien registration numbers yet?  <response>: You can have her get an ITIN using Form W-7 and then you can file married filing jointly. You dont actually claim her as a dependent if you are filing MFJ, but you then have a higher exemption amount. 