Changing your address: USCIS within 10 days, and USPS

Step 1 — Before you move: get ready

• Count every move. USCIS says you must report “each change of address” within 10 days (USCIS — Alien Registration Requirement). If you move twice in your first months, for example from temporary housing to your first apartment, each move counts.
• Write the address the USPS way. USCIS recommends the USPS Look Up a ZIP Code tool, so you give your full address with standard abbreviations (USCIS). Don’t forget your apartment number. Our guide to everyday life basics shows how U.S. addresses are written.
• Gather your USCIS notices. To update a pending case online, you’ll need its receipt number (USCIS).
• Tell the people who send you mail. USPS suggests telling them your new address and moving date at least two weeks before you move (USPS FAQ).

Step 2 — Forward your mail through USPS only

Choose a permanent change if you’re moving, or a temporary one if you’re relocating for 15 days up to 1 year (USPS — Forward Mail).

• Online: start from usps.com, which leads to the official USPS Change of Address website. You verify your identity with a code or link sent to your mobile phone and pay a small identity verification fee by card; the card’s billing address must match your old or new address (USPS).
• In person: if you can’t verify online or prefer not to use a card, ask your Post Office for the free Mover’s Guide packet, fill in PS Form 3575 and show a photo ID (USPS; USPS FAQ).
• Family or individual? One “Family” request works only if everyone moving has the same last name. If your household has different last names, or someone stays behind, file a separate “Individual” request for each person who moves (USPS FAQ).

What happens next. USPS mails a Move Validation Letter to your old address and, within 5 postal business days before the start date, a letter with your confirmation code to your new one. Keep the code: it lets you change or cancel the request online (USPS FAQ). Mail starts arriving within 7–10 postal business days of the start date, and in the meantime you can’t get to it (USPS FAQ). First-Class Mail is forwarded for 12 months (USPS FAQ).

Use only usps.com or a Post Office. USPS warns: “There are third party websites that will charge you fees of $40.00 or more to submit your change of address” (USPS FAQ).

Step 3 — Within 10 days: tell USCIS

USCIS says noncitizens in the U.S. must report a change of address within 10 days of moving, whether or not they have a case pending (USCIS — Policy Manual). The exceptions are A visa holders (diplomats and other foreign government officials), G visa holders (people connected to international organizations) and visa waiver visitors (USCIS; USCIS — Alien Registration Requirement).

USPS doesn’t do this for you. Changing your address with USPS doesn’t change it with USCIS, and USPS won’t forward your mail from USCIS (USCIS).

• Online (what USCIS recommends): use the change of address tool in your USCIS online account, under the “My Account” menu. Doing it online in time meets the legal requirement, updates your address almost immediately, and works even if you filed your case on paper (USCIS). No account yet? The same USCIS page links to instructions for creating one.
• Pending cases: enter the receipt number of every pending case; USCIS says this helps make sure your address is updated where needed (USCIS). A new address written on a service request, such as a case status inquiry, doesn’t count: USCIS keeps the old one until you file a change of address (USCIS — Policy Manual).
• By mail: paper Form AR-11 also meets the legal requirement, but it doesn’t update USCIS’s systems automatically (USCIS — AR-11). With a pending case, USCIS says mailing it may increase the risk that important mail goes to an old address (USCIS — Policy Manual). Sign the form; USCIS rejects unsigned forms (USCIS — AR-11).
• Special procedures apply to some people, including those with VAWA, T or U cases or an I-751 abuse waiver (USCIS). Follow that page.

Keep proof of what you sent: a screenshot, or a copy of the form and proof of mailing.

If you have a case in immigration court. Updating USCIS doesn’t update the court, and the court’s form doesn’t count for USCIS (USCIS — Alien Registration Requirement). The Justice Department office that runs the immigration courts (EOIR) says you must report a new address within five working days, on Form EOIR-33 or online through Respondent Access (EOIR).

Why it matters. In USCIS’s words, “Noncompliance is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 or imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or both,” and a person who didn’t comply “is deportable unless” they show the failure “was reasonably excusable or was not willful” (USCIS — Alien Registration Requirement). For questions about your own situation, see free immigration legal help.

Step 4 — Within 10 days: school, sponsor, Selective Service

• F-1 and M-1 students: you must tell the Department of Homeland Security and your designated school official (DSO) about a new address within 10 days, in the way your school asks. Telling your DSO within 10 days can satisfy the notice to the Department of Homeland Security, and your DSO then updates SEVIS (8 CFR 214.2(f)(17) and (m)(18)). Give the address where you actually live (8 CFR 214.2); if your mailing address is different, your DSO needs both (Study in the States). On OPT, you can also use the SEVP Portal (Study in the States). If you have an application pending with USCIS, update USCIS too (USCIS). See first 30 days for international students.
• J-1 exchange visitors: under State Department rules, your program sponsor must require you to report a new U.S. home address within 10 calendar days (22 CFR 62.10).
• Men 18 through 25: Selective Service says the law requires young men 18 through 25 to tell it about an address change within 10 days, until January 1 of the year they turn 26 (Selective Service). To learn whether you must register at all, see Selective Service for immigrants.

Step 5 — In your first 30 days: update the rest

Forwarding only changes your address with the Post Office; telling agencies and companies is your job (USPS).

• IRS (taxes): send Form 8822 (IRS — Form 8822), a signed letter, or call; or use your new address on your next tax return (IRS — Address changes). Processing generally takes 45 days, and not all post offices forward government checks (IRS — Topic 157). See your first U.S. tax return.
• Social Security: SSA says you can update your mailing address only if you already get benefits, in your online account or at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) (SSA).
• Driver’s license, state ID, car registration: USA.gov sends you to your state’s motor vehicle agency (USA.gov), so follow your state’s rules. USPS notes that driver’s licenses are among the documents agencies don’t let it forward (USPS). See driver’s licenses and state IDs. Read every form before you sign it; our guide to civic rules for noncitizens explains voter registration questions.
• Bank, cards, insurance, employer: contact them directly. USPS says financial institutions and government agencies don’t let it forward sensitive mail such as credit cards, bank statements and insurance information (USPS).
• Sponsors: if you’re a U.S. citizen, U.S. national or permanent resident who signed an affidavit of support (Form I-864) for someone, file Form I-865 within 30 days of your move (USCIS).

A few weeks later, check that mail is reaching you and that your USCIS account shows the new address.