DO I HAVE TO BE A U.S. CITIZEN TO FILE BANKRUPTCY?

You do not have to be a U.S. citizen to file bankruptcy.  You do have to be a resident of the state in which you file your bankruptcy case and have lived there for the last 180 days.  Filing bankruptcy without being a U.S. citizen does raise one complication.  Most debtors who file bankruptcy are identified in their petition by their social security number.  If you are not a U.S. citizen you probably don’t have a social security number.  In these types of cases the Bankruptcy Code will allow debtors to identify themselves by an “Individual Tax Number” or ITIN.  You also have to present a photo identification card.  The trustee will accept photo identification cards issued by other countries.  Keep in mind that for there is a big difference between not being a U.S. Citizen and being in the United States illegally.  I have heard of immigration officials waiting at 341 meetings in order to pick up bankruptcy debtors who are in the United States illegally.