This is the single most common avoidable delay on an ITIN file, and almost nobody knows the rule. An ITIN expires if it has not been used on a federal tax return for three consecutive tax years. It lapses on December 31 of that third year, quietly, with no notice from anyone.
If you have been filing every year, you are fine. If you skipped a few years — because you were paid in cash, because you were out of the country, because life happened — check before you start house hunting, not after you are under contract.
Renewing is not difficult. You file Form W-7 again, marked as a renewal, with the original or certified supporting identity documents. You can renew ahead of filing your next return rather than waiting. The IRS takes time to process it, though, which is exactly why this belongs at the start of the process instead of in the middle.
One clarification worth making, because it comes up constantly: an ITIN is issued purely so that people who owe United States tax can pay it. It does not grant work authorization, it does not create or change immigration status, and federal law places restrictions on what the IRS may disclose about a taxpayer, with limited exceptions written into the statute. I am a mortgage broker, not an immigration attorney — if you have questions in that area, they belong with one, and I am happy to say so rather than guess.
Your ITIN, assigned and current. The IRS CP565 assignment notice or your ITIN card. A pending Form W-7 is not enough — the number has to already exist.
Government photo identification. Unexpired, and matching the name on your tax filings.
Filed tax returns. Most ITIN programs want two years; some will work with one. Because the lender verifies these against IRS transcripts, the returns need to have been actually filed and processed, not just prepared. If you owe back filings, that is the first thing to fix.
Income documentation. Pay stubs and a verification of employment if you are on payroll. If you are self-employed — which describes a great many of the families I work with — then bank statements, a profit and loss statement, and business licenses or 1099s where they exist.
Two months of bank statements showing your down payment and reserves, with any large deposit explained. Money that arrives from outside your normal pattern always gets asked about, so it saves time to document it up front.
Alternative credit, if you have no score. Twelve months of rent paid on time, plus utilities, phone and insurance in your name. Canceled checks, bank drafts and landlord letters all count. Cash rent with no paper trail is the one that causes trouble, so if you are paying rent in cash, start paying it by check or transfer now.
One thing I will not publish here is a table of minimum down payments, credit scores and debt-to-income limits. Those are not set by any government agency on ITIN loans — these are portfolio and non-QM products, not FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans, so every lender writes its own rules and they change. Anyone showing you a fixed set of ITIN numbers on a website is quoting one lender's sheet from some point in the past. Ask me and I will tell you what is actually available this week.
