Hi.
The situation is like this: I'm a US citizen by birth. Since age 13 I've been living overseas. I have never worked or paid taxes in the US. On the other hand, I have paid income tax overseas in a country which has a tax treaty with the US. I realize today that above a certain income, although living overseas, I would still be obligated to file for tax returns and in some cases also pay US taxes. I believe that my income did not exceed the minimum to owe tax in the US, but might have exceeded the minimum required to file taxes in the US (regardless of paying taxes abroad).

In 2007, while still living overseas, I got married. My wife is not a US citizen, nor does she have any sort of immigrant status in the US.

Last year my wife was accepted to a one-year academic program in New York. We moved to New York in August 2011. My wife entered on an F-1 student visa.

In the meantime, I've found full-time work here in New York and we have made the decision to stay in the US (I only started getting US based income in year 2012). We're now preparing to file for my wife's adjustment of status and green card.

Part of the filing for her green card requires that I submit tax return forms for the past three years. This is when I realized that as a US citizen I was supposed to report income and possibly pay taxes for those years I was living abroad, so I'm now trying to get this all in order. But my first priority is to get the proper documents for the past three years, since my wife's school year is over and we don't have much time to get the adjustment of status and immigration visa process going.

So here are my questions:
1. It is my understanding that I need to file form 1040 for each of the years I had income above a certain amount and also a form 2555-ez for foreign earned income exclusion. Are those the only forms I need to submit? I tried asking my local IRS office and even went over there to speak with someone in person, but it was very difficult to get straight answer. It was like they were being ultra cautious about not giving any advice (which I can somehow understand, but I'm not looking for the best "accountant-type" advice, I'm just looking for a basic correct answer).

2. As far as status, I understand it's either "married filing separately" of "married filing jointly". I'm not sure which is the one I should be choosing, since my wife is not a citizen and is not even permitted to work in the US. I think she is what is termed a non-resident alien

3. From a different post on this forum by someone is somewhat similar circumstances - I also learned that possibly my wife is supposed to file for tax return as well. And that she should apply for some sort of tax ID number...?

4. In addition to question 3 above, I also read on the IRS website that my wife, although considered a foreign student (F-1 status), possibly needs to report the scholarship which she was awarded by the academic institution which she attended in NY. Is this true?

5. Last question... as mentioned above, for the filing of my wife's green card, I am required to submit a transcript of my federal tax return of the previous year. How should I go about obtaining this transcript as quickly as possible?

Sorry about the long post and all the question...

Looking forward to your help with this. Thanks!!