HelloStampedOfficialUSCIS — How to Change Your Address · Last verified
You have 10 days to tell USCIS you moved, and the post office does not count
Almost every non-citizen in the United States must report a change of address to USCIS within 10 days of moving. It is a criminal offence not to, and it can make you deportable. A USPS forwarding order does nothing.
The rule
All non-citizens in the United States must report a change of address to USCIS within 10 days of moving. USCIS states the requirement does not apply to A and G visa holders or to visa waiver visitors; for practically everybody else — H-1B, H-4, F-1, students on OPT, permanent residents — it does. This sits in section 265 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and it is separate from, and additional to, any address you have given an employer, a school or a bank.
Source: USCIS — How to Change Your Address · in effect from 1952-06-27
What it costs to miss it
Failing to notify is a misdemeanour punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 or up to 30 days' imprisonment, or both. Beyond that, a person who has not complied with the change-of-address requirement is deportable unless they can establish that the failure was reasonably excusable or was not wilful. This is a heavy consequence attached to an administrative step most people do not know exists, which is exactly why it is worth knowing.
Source: USCIS — How to Change Your Address · in effect from 1952-06-27
Changing your address with the post office does not do it
USCIS says this directly: changing your address with the U.S. Postal Service will not change it with USCIS, and USPS will not forward mail from USCIS. Update both. Filing Form EOIR-33 with the immigration court does not satisfy the USCIS requirement either, and updating USCIS does not satisfy the court's — they are separate duties to separate agencies.
Source: USCIS — How to Change Your Address · in effect from 1952-06-27
If you are a student, you have a second obligation
F-1 students report a change of address to their designated school official within 10 days so the SEVIS record is updated. That is a different duty to a different system, and doing one does not do the other. If you are on OPT you are reporting to your DSO in any case; add the USCIS update to the same task rather than treating it as done.
Source: USCIS — How to Change Your Address · in effect from 1952-06-27
What has not changed
This is long-standing law rather than a 2026 change, and it applies the same way it always has. Reporting an address does not affect your status, your application or your place in any queue — it is a notification, not a request, and there is nothing to approve. It costs nothing. USCIS states the requirement does not apply to A and G visa holders or to visa waiver visitors.
Source: USCIS — How to Change Your Address · in effect from 1952-06-27
If you moved and did not report it
Report it now rather than deciding it is too late. The requirement is to notify within 10 days of moving, and the penalty provision turns on whether a failure was wilful or reasonably excusable — a late notification is a better position than none, and it restores delivery of anything USCIS sends you. If you have a pending case, enter its receipt number when you update the address, and then check the case status online for anything you may have missed while post was going to the old address.
Source: USCIS — How to Change Your Address · in effect from 1952-06-27
How to do it
The quickest route is the change-of-address tool inside a USCIS online account, which meets the legal requirement and updates the address almost immediately. If you have a pending or previously filed case you must enter the receipt number for each one, otherwise the change will not be applied where it needs to be — this is the step people skip. A paper Form AR-11 by post also meets the requirement but does not update USCIS systems automatically. Use the USPS ZIP code lookup so the address you give is in the format USCIS systems recognise.
Source: USCIS — How to Change Your Address · in effect from 1952-06-27
Where people will get caught
Moving flat within the same city is the classic miss — people associate the duty with leaving the country or changing state, and the rule is about the address, not the distance. The second is the 10 days, which is short: it runs from the move, not from when you get around to the admin, and a house move is exactly when admin slips. The third is a pending case whose receipt number never got entered, so the address changed in the account but not on the case, and the notice that mattered went to the old flat. A missed request for evidence is a denial, and the denial arrives at an address you no longer read.
Source: USCIS — How to Change Your Address · in effect from 1952-06-27
Official
Frequently asked questions
- I moved to a new apartment in the same city. Do I still have to report it?
- Yes. The requirement is to report a change of address within 10 days of moving, regardless of how far you moved.
- I filed a USPS forwarding request. Is that enough?
- No. USCIS states that changing your address with the Postal Service will not change it with USCIS, and that USPS will not forward USCIS mail. You must update both.
- What happens if I do not report it?
- It is a misdemeanour punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 or up to 30 days' imprisonment, or both, and it makes you deportable unless you can establish the failure was reasonably excusable or not wilful.
- I have a pending application. Is there anything extra to do?
- Yes. When you change your address in your USCIS online account you must enter the receipt number for each pending request, or the change will not be applied to those cases.