Bankruptcy For Illegal Immigrants

Here is some interesting bankruptcy trivia discussed in a blog post by Oregon bankruptcy attorney Kent Anderson. The issue is whether an illegal immigrant can file bankruptcy in the U.S. One would suspect the answer is “no” for any number of reasons. For example, filing bankruptcy requires that the debtor establish a permanent residence in one state or another for the prior year. Permanent residency presumes the debtor’s intent to live permanently in the state. But, can someone here illegally have the requisite intent to reside permanently? Also, bankruptcy trustees demand that debtors show proof of a social security number at the creditors meeting. Illegal immigrants could not show a social security number (unless the number is fake).

That’s what you would think, but as Mr. Anderson writes in his post the contrary is the law. He states than an illegal can file bankruptcy if he demonstrates he has lived primarily in the filing state for the greater part of the previous 90 days. The post states that the bankruptcy law has no U.S. citizenship requirement and that an illegal can circumvent the social security number requirement by getting an “Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.”

I have never been asked to file bankruptcy for an illegal alien so I do not know if Mr. Anderson’s analysis is correct. In any event, his post is thought provoking.