Child Tax Credit and Credit for Other Dependents

To claim the child tax credit, a nonresident alien must have a qualifying child who is:

• A U.S. citizen, national, or resident alien who lived with the taxpayer for more than half of the tax year (or, for U.S. nationals, an adopted child who lived with them all year as a member of their household)
• The taxpayer's son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them (for example, the taxpayer's grandchild), and was under age 17 at the end of the year
• The taxpayer's dependent
• The Tax Reform Act of 2017 requires the qualifying child have a valid Social Security Number for tax years beginning January 1, 2018.

Credit for Other Dependents

The credit for other dependents was signed into law as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and it is in effect through 2025. This allows a $500 nonrefundable credit (per dependent) for any of your dependents who are not qualifying children under 17 for the child tax credit. There is no age limit for the $500 credit, but the tax tests for dependency must be met.