The Postal Service says it was delivered, but there is no card. Is that still non-delivery?

Yes. USCIS's route covers a document not delivered to you after the first or subsequent delivery attempts, and a scan is a record of what the carrier did, not proof of what reached you. Keep the tracking number — it is what identifies the attempt.

Will I have to pay again for a replacement?

USCIS states you generally do not pay a new fee where the reason you did not receive the document is its error or a Postal Service error. Where the reason is an address USCIS was never told about, that is not the case it describes.

I moved after I filed. What should I do first?

Update your address with USCIS as well as with the Postal Service. A forwarding order does not update USCIS and does not reliably redirect a secure document.

Should I just file a new application to be safe?

Not before opening the non-delivery inquiry. Filing again is the route that always costs, and it is the one people take when they do not know the free route exists.

OfficialUSCIS — How to Track Delivery of Your Notice or Secure Identity Document (or Card) · Last verified 17 Aug 2026

Your work permit was approved and posted, and it never arrived

USCIS treats a card that was produced and mailed but not delivered as its own problem, with its own route that is not a new application. Here is that route, and when a replacement does not cost you a second time.

Start with the tracking number, because it decides everything after

USCIS posts secure documents through the U.S. Postal Service and makes the tracking number available through Case Status Online, against your receipt number. Find it before you do anything else. What the tracking says splits this into two different situations — a card still in transit is a waiting problem, and a card the Postal Service has marked delivered to an address where no card appeared is a non-delivery problem with a specific route. Guessing which one you are in is how people end up filing the wrong thing.

Source: USCIS — How to Track Delivery of Your Notice or Secure Identity Document (or Card) · in effect from 2024-10-11

The address that matters is the one USCIS holds

USCIS mails to the address it has on file for you, which is not automatically the address the Postal Service has. Telling the Postal Service you moved, or leaving a forwarding order in place, does not update USCIS and does not reliably redirect a secure document. USCIS states that if you do not update your address promptly your case can be delayed, your documents can be lost, and you may have to reapply and pay the fee again. If you moved at any point after filing, treat updating USCIS as the first repair rather than a formality.

Source: USCIS — How to Track Delivery of Your Notice or Secure Identity Document (or Card) · in effect from 2024-10-11

Asking for a card that was not delivered

The route is a non-delivery inquiry through the e-Request self-service tool on uscis.gov, not a fresh application. USCIS may reissue a card where the original was not delivered after the first or subsequent delivery attempts. On the fee, USCIS's position is stated plainly: you generally do not have to pay a new one where the reason you did not receive the document was its error or a Postal Service error. That is the sentence worth reading twice before anybody pays to file again.

Source: USCIS — How to Track Delivery of Your Notice or Secure Identity Document (or Card) · in effect from 2024-10-11

How long to wait before asking

USCIS asks you to allow a minimum period after approval before it will take a non-delivery inquiry, and the figure published on the Form I-765 page and the figure stated by the e-Request tool itself do not currently agree. This guide does not pick one. Read the period from the tool you are actually filing in, on the day you file it, rather than from any summary of it — including this one.

Source: USCIS — How to Track Delivery of Your Notice or Secure Identity Document (or Card) · in effect from 2024-10-11

What to be careful about

The expensive mistake is filing and paying for a whole new application before opening a non-delivery inquiry, because that forfeits the route where a reissue costs nothing. The second is treating a Postal Service scan reading "delivered" as the end of the matter — a delivered scan with no card in hand is exactly the case the non-delivery route exists for, and the tracking record is your evidence rather than the argument against you. The third is assuming a mail forwarding order covers it. And if anybody offers, for a fee, to retrieve or expedite a card on your behalf, note that the inquiry is a free self-service form on uscis.gov.

Source: USCIS — How to Track Delivery of Your Notice or Secure Identity Document (or Card) · in effect from 2024-10-11

Official

Frequently asked questions

The Postal Service says it was delivered, but there is no card. Is that still non-delivery?: Yes. USCIS's route covers a document not delivered to you after the first or subsequent delivery attempts, and a scan is a record of what the carrier did, not proof of what reached you. Keep the tracking number — it is what identifies the attempt.
Will I have to pay again for a replacement?: USCIS states you generally do not pay a new fee where the reason you did not receive the document is its error or a Postal Service error. Where the reason is an address USCIS was never told about, that is not the case it describes.
I moved after I filed. What should I do first?: Update your address with USCIS as well as with the Postal Service. A forwarding order does not update USCIS and does not reliably redirect a secure document.
Should I just file a new application to be safe?: Not before opening the non-delivery inquiry. Filing again is the route that always costs, and it is the one people take when they do not know the free route exists.