Changing US address with USCIS online while staying outside the US

[Username123]

I am a new green card holder. I got my GC a few months ago and then left the US to finish my business in the UK. I am currently still in the UK and intend to move to the US permanently in about a year.

My current USICS US address, which i indicated on my GC application documents and haven't changed since, is a friend's address. My friend is about to move out so would like to change the address with USCIS to my own mail forwarding address while i'm still abroad. I have already set up the mail forwarding address. One of the reasons i've done it is because i am going to apply for a reentry permit and need an up-to-date address where documents, such as biometric appointment letter, will be sent and then scanned and/or forwarded to me wherever i am at that point.

Can I, while staying outside the US, register my new mail forwarding address with USCIS online here? https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?action=coa

More importantly, would it be legal to do so in my circumstances?

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

 

[mmed]

I am a new green card holder. I got my GC a few months ago and then left the US to finish my business in the UK. I am currently still in the UK and intend to move to the US permanently in about a year.

My current USICS US address, which i indicated on my GC application documents and haven't changed since, is a friend's address. My friend is about to move out so would like to change the address with USCIS to my own mail forwarding address while i'm still abroad. I have already set up the mail forwarding address. One of the reasons i've done it is because i am going to apply for a reentry permit and need an up-to-date address where documents, such as biometric appointment letter, will be sent and then scanned and/or forwarded to me wherever i am at that point.

Can I, while staying outside the US, register my new mail forwarding address with USCIS online here? https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?action=coa

More importantly, would it be legal to do so in my circumstances?

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Changing mail address is required if you stay physically in the US mainly because of security issues and less importantly to receive documents from USCIS, if any. Most official USCIS letters, including FP notice are non forwardable.

 

[Username123]

Changing mail address is required if you stay physically in the US mainly because of security issues and less importantly to receive documents from USCIS, if any. Most official USCIS letters, including FP notice are non forwardable.

Are FP letters non forwardable by USPS only or by private mail forwarding companies as well? Does it mean that a private company will not even scan the letter for me?

 

[Jackolantern]

I am a new green card holder. I got my GC a few months ago and then left the US to finish my business in the UK. I am currently still in the UK and intend to move to the US permanently in about a year.

Will you return to the US before the end of that year? Or preferably, within 6 months? If you stay outside the US longer than 6 months, you have to prove your ties of residence to the US in order to keep your green card. Which will be difficult to do if you don't have a real physical address (not a mail forwarding company!) and other connections such as a US bank account. If you stay outside more than a year, the green card is not sufficient for you to reenter the country ... you will need a reentry permit which must be applied for within the US.

 

[Username123]

Will you return to the US before the end of that year? Or preferably, within 6 months? If you stay outside the US longer than 6 months, you have to prove your ties of residence to the US in order to keep your green card. Which will be difficult to do if you don't have a real physical address (not a mail forwarding company!) and other connections such as a US bank account. If you stay outside more than a year, the green card is not sufficient for you to reenter the country ... you will need a reentry permit which must be applied for within the US.

I'm coming to the US within 6 months from my first visit to apply for a reentry permit, then the plan is to leave in a few days, come back to get fingerprinted and leave again. Finish everything in the uk in about a year and move to the states permanently.

I need to change my address with USCIS to the mail forwarding address, because i'm planning to put the same new address in the reentry permit application and receive my biometrics appointment notice so it can get scanned immediately by the mail forwarding company and sent to me by express mail as well. I do have a us bank account already which i can link to the new address. My mail forwarding address is not a p.o box, but it does look a bit od - i mean, XXXXXXXXXXXX st., Suite 345-2343-2356, town, state, zip code.

Well... i'm a bit lost...

 

[mmed]

Are FP letters non forwardable by USPS only or by private mail forwarding companies as well? Does it mean that a private company will not even scan the letter for me?

Most USCIS letters, including FP notice, is not forwardable letters by all means. This is to insure that the applicant for an immigration benefit is physically present in the given address. Private, public, USPS or whatever will not violate the law of non forwardable letters to be forwarded even to the next block.

 

[Username123]

Most USCIS letters, including FP notice, is not forwardable letters by all means. This is to insure that the applicant for an immigration benefit is physically present in the given address. Private, public, USPS or whatever will not violate the law of non forwardable letters to be forwarded even to the next block.

Is there any way i can find out about my biometrics appointment if i'm abroad, such us calling USCIS and asking them?

 

[del0175]

It appears that you are trying to game the system and that isn't always a great idea. I think you might want to apply for a reenetry permit now since merely holding a bank account is no proof with ties to a country. I can open an account these days in the US without ever visiting the US.

 

[mmed]

Is there any way i can find out about my biometrics appointment if i'm abroad, such us calling USCIS and asking them?

The only way from my opinion, others may have other options, is to have address here in US where a friend can take the letter from the mail box and inform you with its contents. This address should be in the system of the USCIS where they send you letters to.

 

[Jackolantern]

It appears that you are trying to game the system and that isn't always a great idea. I think you might want to apply for a reenetry permit now since merely holding a bank account is no proof with ties to a country. I can open an account these days in the US without ever visiting the US.

True, but it is not so much that the bank account proves a tie to the US ... it's more that the lack of a bank account creates the appearance of not having ties to the US, when combined with the long trips overseas. Very few people will fail to establish a bank account in the country where they reside permanently, unless they earn their money "under the table" and/or their income is so low that they don't have enough money to be worth putting in the bank.

 

[Username123]

It appears that you are trying to game the system and that isn't always a great idea. I think you might want to apply for a reenetry permit now since merely holding a bank account is no proof with ties to a country. I can open an account these days in the US without ever visiting the US.

I am going to apply for a reentry permit and i do have a us bank account.

I am not trying to break the law, but i think that the system is so complex and obscure that there's nothing wrong with me asking these questions.

Thousands of people like me win green card by lottery every year and they are all supposed to inform USCIS of their addresses even before coming to the States. Definitely not all of them have close enough friends in the States who would let them use their addresses. Definitely not all of them move the the US permanently straight after they arrive there for the first time to "activate" the green card holder status. I don't think my situation is uncommon.

 

[Jackolantern]

Thousands of people like me win green card by lottery every year and they are all supposed to inform USCIS of their addresses even before coming to the States. Definitely not all of them have close enough friends in the States who would let them use their addresses. Definitely not all of them move the the US permanently straight after they arrive there for the first time to "activate" the green card holder status. I don't think my situation is uncommon.

True, but what you are saying sounds like an argument for eliminating the green card lottery and using those green cards instead for people with established jobs or family members in the US.

 

[Hannah7]

Right, but DV lottery is for everybody! I am in the same situation like Username123.

I dont have family, good friends ... in the U.S. I also need to finish a lot of work before I am ready to move to U.S. It's also possible that the life in USA won't be the right for me. Who knows ...

Anyways from my (our) point of view , it will take a lot of time and a lot of (overseas) travels.

And there are many many obstacles in our way ...

If I weren't interested in living in America, I wouldn't have entered the lottery and processed to real gc. Sometimes I wonder why there are so many problems ... maybe everybody think that all immigrants already ties in the U.S.

As well as Username123 I am comming for just 2 weeks just to activate resident status and return within a year back (without reentry permit).

 

[Jackolantern]

Right, but DV lottery is for everybody!

No, some countries are blocked from entering the DV lottery.

If I weren't interested in living in America, I wouldn't have entered the lottery and processed to real gc.

It took me almost 5 years from start to finish to get my green card. Most immigrants spent 3 or more years waiting (sometimes over 10 years), often while blocked from visiting the US during those years, or having tight career restrictions (in some cases not being allowed to work at all, if their spouse was the primary applicant) if they waited within the US. I don't get the impression that you are as interested in living in the US as the people who got their green cards the hard way.

Sometimes I wonder why there are so many problems ... maybe everybody think that all immigrants already ties in the U.S.

Most immigrants do already have ties to the US before immigrating, as most got their green cards through employment or family.

 

[Hannah7]

You are absolutely right.

There are a lot of people who would never immigrate to America, because it's just too difficult as you described above. And those DV immigrants (including me) don't have real ties to the country from the start. That's all obvious, isn't it?

Look. Except the lottery, there are some other ways how to get a green card. You mentioned some of them ... I would add for example speculative marriage. All these ways are usually long, difficult, uncertain and one can spend years of waiting without been satisfied.

Although I wanna try to live in America I'd never undergo any other method except very good employment gc and DV. It may be wasting time whilist one can build his/her career and life home. I suggest this is common for most immigrants from all developed countries nowadays.

Conclusion?

Yes, you're right! Most (DV) immigrants like me aren't as interested in living in the US as the people who got their green cards "the hard way".