Last Updated on August 5, 2020, 9:52 PM AST by Anthony Morris
Thousands of foreign workers who had come to the U.S. on temporary work visas received $1,200 checks due to an error during the first round of stimulus payments, and several people are spending that money in their home countries.
NPR, a tax preparation firm said that it has clients from 129 countries who mistakenly received stimulus checks, including Brazil, India, Nigeria, China and South Korea.
Government officials and tax experts have said that the mistake was made because many foreign workers, filed incorrect tax returns either unintentionally or on purpose which make them appear as U.S. residents.
Several people are now trying to amend their tax returns because they are worried that having mistakenly received a stimulus check would jeopardize their green card application, visa status or ability to return to the United States.
It is difficult to quantify how much stimulus money was mistakenly sent to foreign workers living overseas.
However, Sprintax, which does tax preparation for the nonresidents, did around 400 amended returns last year for the people who filed returns as U.S. residents by mistake.
According to the company, so far this year it has done 5,000 which is almost 5% of the total federal tax returns which it filed last year.
If only 5% of last year’s over 700,000 seasonal workers with F-1 and J-1 and student visas received a stimulus check by mistake, it would make a total of $43 million.
The “economic impact payments” sent by mistake to the non-U.S. citizens are the latest in a series of mishappenings involving COVID-19 relief efforts, which includes around $1.4 billion in stimulus checks which were sent to dead Americans.
As Congress debates on another relief package, it is considering a second round of payments which would exclude the deceased persons.
Still, the new bill would not address the problem of $1,200 checks which have been sent by mistake to the foreign workers in other nations.
Many of these workers are college students, often belonging to Eastern Europe, South America and Central America.
They travel to the U.S. for temporary and seasonal low-wage jobs such as lifeguards, waiters and hotel housekeepers at ski resorts, amusement parks and other beach destinations.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
