Canadian with American non-PR spouse

[redstar5]

I was married in Canada to my American spouse in July 2011.
She stayed in the US while we filed for Permanent residency through Spousal Sponsorship.

In November 2011 I was in an accident and she came to Canada to help care for me in my recovery. She has not worked in Canada and is here on a visitors visa. We are still awaiting confirmation of her Permanent Residency (18 months later), her visitor's visa has been renewed.

We are now looking into filing our Tax Returns for 2012 and I wonder if someone can help answer my questions:

1) Should my American spouse file a Canadian Tax return for 2012 where she has lived here with no income on a visitor's visa? She still has no SIN. I believe I understand that she is deemed a "resident" for tax purposes because she has lived in Canada for more than 183 days?

2) On my tax return can I add a spouse credit where my income was our sole income for 2012?

3) If we file a Canadian Tax return for my American Spouse, does that change how her American tax return would be submitted?

Thanks for any advice!

[nelsona]

1. Yes. As your spouse, she is at least entitled to a TIN from CRA.
2. You must file married and report her income. Once you have TIN for her, she can also file.
3. No, She is a US citizen and must file (if she has minimum income) and if she has any foreign ownership of things like RRSP.