Get an ITIN Abroad Without Mailing Your Passport
Living outside the U.S. and need an ITIN? Here is how Form W-7 really works, and how to keep your passport instead of shipping it to Texas.
If you live outside the United States and need a U.S. taxpayer ID, the form is the easy part. Form W-7 takes about twenty minutes to fill out. What goes wrong is the passport.
The IRS will not accept a photocopy, and it will not accept a notarized copy. It wants your original passport, or a copy certified by the agency that issued it. Mail the original to the ITIN Operation in Austin, Texas, and you are without it for nine to eleven weeks, plus international mail in both directions.
There is a way to keep it. It is not the way most websites describe.
Who needs an ITIN
An ITIN is a nine-digit number the IRS issues to people who have a U.S. tax obligation but cannot get a Social Security number. The cases we see most often at Parikh Financial:
- A non-resident who owns U.S. rental property and files Form 1040-NR
- A foreign partner in a U.S. LLC or partnership receiving a Schedule K-1
- A non-resident claiming a treaty benefit on U.S.-source income
- A non-resident spouse or dependent claimed on a U.S. return
- A seller of U.S. real estate subject to FIRPTA withholding
The ITIN does not give you work authorization or immigration status. It exists so the IRS can process your return.
The passport rule, stated exactly
From the Form W-7 instructions: "You must submit original documents, or certified copies of these documents from the issuing agency."
The IRS defines a certified copy as one the original issuing agency provides, certifies as an exact copy, and stamps with an official seal. A notarized copy is a different thing, and an Apostille does not fix it. Publication 1915 states the carve-out precisely: notarized copies are accepted only for dependents and spouses of U.S. military personnel applying from an overseas or APO/FPO address, and only with a copy of the servicemember's military ID attached. Spouses use box e on Form W-7, dependents box d. If that is not you, a notary is a dead end.
The same instructions name a second source of a certified copy, and most write-ups skip it. Under Certified copies, you may have "the officers at U.S. embassies and consulates overseas provide certification and authentication services." The instructions add that services vary between countries, so contact the Consular Section, American Citizens Services, in advance. Where your own passport office will not certify, this is usually the answer.
A valid passport is the only stand-alone document, and it carries an asterisk. A passport showing no date of entry into the United States is not stand-alone for a dependent who is neither from Canada or Mexico nor the dependent of U.S. military personnel stationed overseas; those applicants have to add documents proving U.S. residency. If you have no passport at all, you need at least two other documents from the IRS list, and at least one has to carry a photograph.
Your four real options
Every applicant abroad is choosing among these four.
The second row is the one most people want and most people get wrong.
Video interviews are allowed, with one condition
The IRS allows a Certifying Acceptance Agent to interview you by video. It also requires the agent to be holding your documents while doing it. Both rules are on the IRS acceptance agent program page:
"AAs and CAAs must conduct an in-person interview with each ITIN applicant (primary, secondary, and dependent) in order to complete the application. Video conferencing maybe used for the interview only. However, CAAs must have the original identification documents or certified copies from the issuing agency in their possession during the interview."
The agent is checking the hologram, the chip, the laminate, and the stitching. A camera pointed at your passport cannot show any of that, which is why the rule exists.
So the video call replaces your travel. It does not replace the document's travel. Any service that promises to certify your passport from a scan or an uploaded PDF is describing something the IRS does not permit, and the application will come back rejected.
What a CAA actually does for you
The agent reviews your originals, then signs Form W-7 (COA), a Certificate of Accuracy confirming they personally examined the documents. That certificate is what lets the IRS process your application without the originals in hand.
You keep your passport and any other original ID. The agent sends the IRS your signed W-7, the COA, copies of the documents they reviewed, and either your federal return or your exception documentation.
One limit worth knowing if you are claiming a dependent. A CAA can authenticate every identification document for the primary and secondary applicant except a foreign military ID, but for a dependent it can only authenticate the passport and the civil birth certificate. Anything else for a dependent still has to reach the IRS as an original or an agency-certified copy, per the Acceptance Agent Program reminders on the page quoted above.
A CAA also receives copies of your ITIN notices from the IRS, which means someone can chase the application if it stalls. On a self-filed W-7, nobody can.
Getting a certified copy in your own country
If you want the video route, you need an agency-certified copy of your passport before anything else happens. Call your passport authority and ask one specific question: will the passport office itself issue a certified copy bearing its official stamp?
In some countries the answer is yes and it costs very little. In others the passport office does not offer the service at all. That is the point to call the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate, because consular officers can certify and authenticate the copy themselves. Ask both before you build a plan around either.
If both answer no, you are back to two choices: visit a CAA in person, or courier the original to one using a tracked, insured service.
Finding a CAA when your country has none
The IRS publishes a country-by-country directory of acceptance agents. Coverage is uneven. Germany lists about twenty agents. Switzerland lists nine. Some countries list zero. As of August 2026, Austria is one of the empty ones.
Two things to know when your country is blank.
First, you are not limited to agents in your own country. A CAA anywhere in the world can handle your application. For a client in Vienna, the nearest agent is a few hours by train in Munich, which turns a transatlantic shipping problem into a day trip.
Second, check the asterisk. The directory marks plain Acceptance Agents with an asterisk. They can help you complete the form, but they cannot certify documents, so they will still have to send your originals to the IRS. Only a Certifying Acceptance Agent solves the passport problem. Ask any firm directly which one they are before you pay.
Do you attach a tax return?
Usually yes. The default rule is that Form W-7 goes on top of the original federal return the ITIN is needed for, and you leave the SSN field on that return blank.
The exceptions are where people save real time, because they let you apply before a return is due.
If you are a foreign partner in a U.S. partnership or LLC, Exception 1(a) carries its own document requirement, set out in the Exceptions Tables of the Form W-7 instructions: "A copy of the portion of the partnership or LLC agreement displaying the partnership's employer identification number and showing that you're a partner in the partnership that's conducting business in the United States." A Schedule K-1 on its own does not satisfy it.
Three claims that should make you walk away
The ITIN space attracts filing mills. Watch for these.
"Your ITIN in two to four weeks." The IRS publishes seven weeks as normal and nine to eleven weeks for applications from overseas or filed between January 15 and April 30. A good agent prevents rejection. Nobody moves the Austin queue.
"Nothing ever leaves your hands." Compare that to the possession rule quoted above. Either you visit the agent, or a document reaches the agent.
No answer about the IRS directory. Every legitimate CAA is listed by name and address on irs.gov. If a firm will not point you to its entry, look it up yourself, and if it is not there, move on.
When to start
Work backward from the filing deadline. Budget nine to eleven weeks of IRS processing, two to four weeks of international mail in each direction, and time to schedule the CAA appointment and get the certified copy. Fifteen weeks ahead of the deadline is a reasonable target. For a 2026 return due in April 2027, that means starting in early January at the latest.
Applications that show up in March are the ones that miss.
We can run this for you
Parikh Financial prepares Form W-7 packages for non-resident owners, foreign partners, and international investors, and we coordinate the certification step so the passport question is settled before anything is filed. If you are not sure which reason code applies, or whether a return has to go with the application, that is the conversation to have first.
Frequently asked
Questions, answered
Can I get an ITIN without mailing my passport to the IRS?
Yes, by using an IRS Certifying Acceptance Agent (CAA). The CAA examines your original passport, signs a Form W-7 (COA) certifying they reviewed it, and sends the IRS copies instead of the originals. You keep the passport. The catch is that the IRS requires the agent to physically hold your original passport, or a copy certified by the issuing agency, during the interview. So you either meet the agent in person or courier a document to them. No CAA can certify your passport from a scan or a photo.
Does the IRS accept a notarized copy of my passport?
Only for dependents and spouses of U.S. military personnel applying from an overseas or APO/FPO address, with a copy of the servicemember military ID attached. Everyone else must submit original documents, or copies certified by the agency that issued them, meaning the passport office itself, stamped with its official seal. An Apostille does not make a notarized copy acceptable. Two routes avoid mailing the original: officers at U.S. embassies and consulates overseas provide certification and authentication services, and a Certifying Acceptance Agent or an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center can verify the original in person.
How long does an ITIN application take from outside the U.S.?
The IRS publishes seven weeks as its normal processing time, and nine to eleven weeks for applications submitted from overseas or during the January 15 to April 30 peak. Add two to four weeks of international mail in each direction. Plan on starting roughly fifteen weeks before your filing deadline. Using a Certifying Acceptance Agent reduces the chance of a rejection that restarts the clock, but it does not speed up the IRS queue.
What if there is no Certifying Acceptance Agent in my country?
You are not limited to agents in your own country. The IRS acceptance agent directory covers dozens of countries, and any CAA anywhere can handle your application as long as your documents reach them. Applicants in a country with no listed agent often use one in a neighboring country, which can mean a short trip rather than an international shipment. Check the directory carefully: entries marked with an asterisk are plain Acceptance Agents, who cannot certify documents.