Tax Filing - Residency status on green card

[ranjanr1]

Hello, Following is my work history in the USA.
2021 - Canada
2022- Canada
Jan-September 2023 - Canada
September-December 2023 - New Jersey - USA. (L1 B Visa + Canadian Citizen)

Applied for 485 in Oct 2023 and Green card was approved on Feb 2024.

Question : Depending on my residency history what should be my Tax residency status ?

I understand Green card holders need to file as Resident. But since my green card wasa approved in 2024, Do i need to file as resident for 2023.??

[newacct]

You are a resident alien for 2023 if you pass the Green Card Test or the Substantial Presence Test for 2023. You don't pass the Green Card Test for 2023. You don't pass the Substantial Presence Test for 2023 either. The Substantial Presence Test is passed if (the days you were present in the US in 2023 + 1/3 the days you were present in the US in 2022 + 1/6 the days you were present in the US in 2021) is at least 183 days. You were not present in 2021 and 2022, and you were present for less than half the year in 2023. So by default you are a nonresident alien for all of 2023.

Since you have days of presence in the Substantial Presence Test for the last months of 2023, and you will be a resident alien for 2024, if you want, you can choose to use the First-Year Choice, which will make you a resident alien for the part of 2023 after you arrived, making you a dual-status alien for 2023. However, being a dual-status alien doesn't have many advantages over being a nonresident alien the whole year.

If you are married at the end of 2023, there is an additional way to treat both you and your spouse as residents for all of 2023, if you guys file jointly. (Otherwise, nonresident aliens and dual-status aliens cannot file jointly.) But treating you guys as residents would mean you have to report your worldwide income the entire year to US taxes (though there are ways to reduce the US taxes on your foreign income, you still have to report it to claim the exclusion or credit), which would make it much more complicated.

[english_august]

I have a related question. My mother in law got her green card on June 28th, 2023. She entered the US on AP and was in the US physically from June 19th until August 20th. Does she need to file tax return for 2023?