We sent my son's passport off a couple of months ago to apply for an ITIN. We've had the number through and with no sign of the passport, rang them and, surprise surprise, they can't seem to find it!!

They have said to give it a few more days to see if it turns up, but if it doesn't, what do we do?? It has his visa in so at the moment we have no proof of his status, and our greencard process is held up as the lawyers want a copy of it. If we need to apply for a new passport is there any chance of getting the IRS to pay for it? And how do we go about getting a replacement visa?

Thanks for any info anyone can give.

I doubt if they *need* you to send the original passport.
Usually, notarized copies work, no?

Hope they find it though! Good luck!

but without the passport how can they give the attorney any kind of copy of it? or am I missing something?

Well, they could always make an extra copy of the copy that they wisely made before sending the original off to the IRS ...

What I am saying is the original passport should not have been sent to the IRS in the first place!
I have applied for ITIN/SSN on multiple occasions (for different ppl in the house off course) and have never had to send the original passport anywhere.

As a side note, I have always applied for ITINs with my tax return. e.g. you claim a dependent on you tax return. if the dependent doesn't have ITIN/SSN, you apply for one at the same time.

same here - notorised copy of my passport (done for free at my bank) was fine

hingsight ain't helping the OP much though is it...

Chances of getting the IRS to pay for a replacement would be about nil...no idea about the visa, ask the lawyers as I'm presuming this is a work based visa?

true- i was thinking more preventative for other folks searching/reading about ITINS in the future.

Thanks for the replies. When OH rang up IRS they insisted they needed the original passport, a copy wouldn't be accepted and, unfortunately, he sent it off without thinking to get it copied first so we're really stuck. All we have is the proof it was delivered and signed for at their office, and it was obviously used by them as we got the number through.

If the passport is not found, do we get a new one first then go through all the hassle of trying to get a replacement visa issued? We won't have to leave the US to get a new one inserted will we? (Mind you, a trip out of here sounds quite appealing right now).

Thanks again for the info, and yes - we are idiots!!!!

Not possible to get a new visa inside the US. What happened to the I-94, is that also lost? Do your lawyers not have a copy of passport/visa etc?

If I were you I would try this route -
-First, go get a passport from your local embassy. Depending on your passport issuing country, you should get this the same day or max few days. (usually there is a specific service/SLA for lost/stolen passports)
-Then, get a duplicate I-94
-At this stage, you should sleep peacefully. You (or your son) are good to stay in the country till your I-94 expires. Note that you DON'T NEED A VISA TO STAY in the country. You only need it to enter. How long you can stay is determined by the date on I-94
-Next time when you go out of country, don't forget to schedule a trip to the US consulate to get the VISA stamped back on the new passport so that you can enter US again.

I hope this helps.

BTW, I am about to mail out all of our ORIGINAL passports to the Australian consulate in Washington DC come Monday! How strange!!

Thanks again for all the replies but it appears that the IRS doesn't even know what it's doing these days (pretty similar to back home really) as the passport came in the post today. (I'm a bit stumped as to why their records hadn't been updated with this info when we called to ask where it was tho!!).

Anyway, this has taught us a valuable lesson in making sure we take copies of everything before it's sent off and I hope that no-one is as silly as we were and makes the same mistake.

Cheers again guys.

Glad it turned up

Me too - HUGE relief!!