Per the IRS,
- Nonresident aliens do not qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion.
- You must be either a U.S. citizen or resident alien of the United States, live and work abroad, and meet certain other qualifications to exclude a specific amount of your foreign earned income.
- If you are the nonresident alien spouse of a U.S. citizen or resident alien, you can elect to be treated as a U.S. resident in order to file a joint return. In this case, you can take the foreign earned income exclusion if otherwise qualified.
However, a nonresident alien is generally not subject to U.S. tax on compensation for services performed outside the United States. Thus, under the dual-status rules, nonresident aliens would not report their foreign earned income during the non-residency part of the tax year.