RE: Please poke holes or point to areas for further research

Hole #1:  Rental income earned from U.S. real property by a NRA is subject to 30% tax.  30% Withholdings have to be made by the property manager or in some cases even the tenants.  

See:

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-aliens-real-property-located-in-...

The 30% is on the gross rental without deductions.  However, there are ways to lower the tax, one of which is for the NRA to timely make a Sec 871(d) election, and that would mean the need to FILE form 1040-NR. 

(Possible) Hole #2:  If a property tax manager is involved, Form W8-BEN or W8-ECI has to be filed with the property manager periodically (for waiving the withholding, providing the tax ID number, etc.)

(Possible) Hole# 3: A few years ago, I read somewhere that  graduate students are treated differently for federal income tax purposes.  I never researched it.  Perhaps a fellow practitioner can chime in.