Change of mailing address for filed I-129F

[JDP91 118]

Hi all, happy Friday!

 

Quick question. 

 

I'm currently living abroad with my fiancé, and when we filed our petition, we put our current physical address in China as our mailing address. A month out, we have yet to receive the paper Receipt Notice/Form I-797, so I'm thinking it would be best to update my mailing address to a family member's stateside address. I called USCIS to do this, and the agent said that I wouldn't receive a paper notification if I elected to receive the email/text updates, but this directly contradicts the email I received so I am worried he might not have the right information. Additionally, he said that to change my mailing address, I would have to write a letter to the CSC -- there's no form or other way to change it. Is this correct? 

 

If anyone has any experience updating a mailing address halfway through the process (or receiving USCIS mail in China!), some insight would be much appreciated  

Edited March 2, 2018 by JDP91

[TNJ17 1,329]

You do get a paper NOA1 after petition received. Usually a couple of weeks to a month after they receive it. However, having said that I’m pretty sure they don’t send the NOAs to a foreign country. In order to file for a K1 you need to have a US address so maybe they sent it to that US address you put down on your 129f. Even if you put down the foreign country address as being your mailing address, I don’t think it will go there. 

A hard copy NOA is always sent. Not everyone gets texts or emails, but the hard copy in the mail is always sent. In order for you to change your mailing address at the USCIS stage, all you gotta do is log on to your account on the USCIS website and follow the procedures there. It’s all done online, there’s no need to send anything. You just follow the instructions and fill out forms online. However, in order to be able to access your account on the USCIS website, you need your WAC number. If you haven’t received NOA1 then you don’t have your WAC number. There has got to be a way you can get a hold of that NOA1 so you can get your number. Honestly, you can’t do anything without your WAC number. 

[JDP91 118]

7 minutes ago, TNJ17 said:

You do get a paper NOA1 after petition received. Usually a couple of weeks to a month after they receive it. However, having said that I’m pretty sure they don’t send the NOAs to a foreign country. In order to file for a K1 you need to have a US address so maybe they sent it to that US address you put down on your 129f. Even if you put down the foreign country address as being your mailing address, I don’t think it will go there. 

A hard copy NOA is always sent. Not everyone gets texts or emails, but the hard copy in the mail is always sent. In order for you to change your mailing address at the USCIS stage, all you gotta do is log on to your account on the USCIS website and follow the procedures there. It’s all done online, there’s no need to send anything. You just follow the instructions and fill out forms online. However, in order to be able to access your account on the USCIS website, you need your WAC number. If you haven’t received NOA1 then you don’t have your WAC number. There has got to be a way you can get a hold of that NOA1 so you can get your number. Honestly, you can’t do anything without your WAC number. 

Thanks for your reply.

 

I have the WAC number from the email, fortunately!

 

I tried to use the online address change form, but it will not accept a foreign address in their system (which it would need to do to accurately reflect both my current physical address and previous mailing address, which it asks for). I'm a little stumped. 

[TNJ17 1,329]

Well, if you have access to your account on USCIS then you are probably fine because you can check the status of your case through there. You don’t really need anything you get in the mail for the interview part, because when your petition is approved, you just call NVC and you can get your case number over the phone so you don’t really need anything but that to schedule medical and interview. The only thing I can see this being a problem is if you get an RFE, because they don’t say what the information is over the phone or email, text etc. It’s a hard copy in the mail and that’s the only way you can find out what else you need to send them. But if you were thorough at your petition stage and didn’t make any mistakes or forget anything, I wouldn’t worry. 

[JDP91 118]

Yeah! I guess I'm just being paranoid about RFEs, or the 'silent approvals' that don't show online. Also, don't I need the NOA2 for AOS?

[JDP91 118]

Bump 

[Naes 12,205]

On 3/3/2018 at 1:11 AM, TNJ17 said:

You do get a paper NOA1 after petition received. Usually a couple of weeks to a month after they receive it. However, having said that I’m pretty sure they don’t send the NOAs to a foreign country. In order to file for a K1 you need to have a US address so maybe they sent it to that US address you put down on your 129f. Even if you put down the foreign country address as being your mailing address, I don’t think it will go there. 

A hard copy NOA is always sent. Not everyone gets texts or emails, but the hard copy in the mail is always sent. In order for you to change your mailing address at the USCIS stage, all you gotta do is log on to your account on the USCIS website and follow the procedures there. It’s all done online, there’s no need to send anything. You just follow the instructions and fill out forms online. However, in order to be able to access your account on the USCIS website, you need your WAC number. If you haven’t received NOA1 then you don’t have your WAC number. There has got to be a way you can get a hold of that NOA1 so you can get your number. Honestly, you can’t do anything without your WAC number. 

They do send noa1 to outside of US, to other countries.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Naes

[Naes 12,205]

On 3/3/2018 at 1:32 AM, JDP91 said:

Yeah! I guess I'm just being paranoid about RFEs, or the 'silent approvals' that don't show online. Also, don't I need the NOA2 for AOS?

It goes outside of US, however it takes longer as you can guess. For rfe that may be a problem because unless you receive it you cannot know what it is about. Uscis won't talk about that on the phone.

 

for AOS you need noa2. Even if you lost the hard copy, you can always ask for one more.

[JDP91 118]

Thanks Naes! 

 

I have a feeling they mailed the NOA1 but it got lost in the mail. So far, I have a track record of about 30% of mail/postcards actually making it to me here (unless the address is printed in Chinese, with my phone number for the carrier to call and confirm delivery, as is typical here). I'd rather not risk RFE/NOA2 enlarging that 70%. 

 

So, I'm still unsure as to how to change my mailing address on file. Should I listen to the uninformed USCIS officer and mail a little to the CSC? I'm fine doing this if that's the proper way, but I'd be pissed if it weren't... FedEx/UPS from China to the States is about $60, and I'd prefer not to waste that money. Online or over the phone would be much easier, if there's some way! It also seems strange that there's no official form or process.   

[Naes 12,205]

5 minutes ago, JDP91 said:

Thanks Naes! 

 

I have a feeling they mailed the NOA1 but it got lost in the mail. So far, I have a track record of about 30% of mail/postcards actually making it to me here (unless the address is printed in Chinese, with my phone number for the carrier to call and confirm delivery, as is typical here). I'd rather not risk RFE/NOA2 enlarging that 70%. 

 

So, I'm still unsure as to how to change my mailing address on file. Should I listen to the uninformed USCIS officer and mail a little to the CSC? I'm fine doing this if that's the proper way, but I'd be pissed if it weren't... FedEx/UPS from China to the States is about $60, and I'd prefer not to waste that money. Online or over the phone would be much easier, if there's some way! It also seems strange that there's no official form or process.   

If you think things will get lost, I would try to find a US address (maybe family?) and change it to that. actually if you have a uscis account you can change the address there too..

 

as of the idiot spoke to you on the phone, I'm sorry you met an idiot...  that's it. You should always get a paper one.

 

i got text, email and paper. 

 

So overall you talked to a ridiculous member we dont know why is even getting paid at this point. 

 

Change your address because it will be more important for a possible rfe or silent noa2 situation.(oh there are also silent rfes -yep I'm serious-)

call again to ask them to resend the noa1.

If you again end up talking to an idiot. Just call again. It's like roulette, you sometimes get a person.

[JDP91 118]

I tried to change it online, but it asks for my current/old address and the form will not allow me to enter a foreign address... either for the previous mailing address or current physical address >.< 

[Naes 12,205]

2 minutes ago, JDP91 said:

I tried to change it online, but it asks for my current/old address and the form will not allow me to enter a foreign address... either for the previous mailing address or current physical address >.< 

then you may need to send it by mail. But first try to get a decent person on the phone...

[Zoe M 20]

Hi JDP91, what did you end up doing? I need to update the physical address of my foreign fiancé to correspond to the mailing address we filled out for him in our I-129F petition. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

Edited July 19, 2018 by Zoe M