Residential Address vs Mailing Address

[craigybear 10]

Hi all,

 

Currently our address we included when filing for AOS means we are associated with the Washington DC/NoVA office and we expect we are not far away from getting our interview scheduled in the next few weeks - based on stalking other timelines at the same local office.

 

I've been offered a short term assignment with work in Australia - even though it's 7 months only, it would be beneficial to give up our apartment, and put things in storage to make the most of the company provided apartment in Sydney. My USC wife would come with me. (My work are happy to fly us back to the US for the AOS interview for a few days). Our lease notice clause means we will have our current apartment (albeit empty) for two months after we give notice. This assignment is due to begin in a few weeks and we anticipate not having the interview notice or interview itself by then. 

 

Is it possible to change your mailing address to another address in Colorado, for example? And keep the address on our filing papers the same? We own a house in Denver that is rented to friends. This is where we'd hope the notices and GC would eventually be sent. Our immigration lawyers always gets copies of all our USCIS mail also. I really don't want to see us transferred to the Denver office, with us going to the back of the queue for interviews when we're so close in Washington DC.

 

Related - what evidence may be requested at the interview of current residential address in USA? 

 

I know this is a little confusing - trying to navigate our way through this for the best outcome.

 

[Pitaya 2,577]

A little confusing ? I am still trying to comprehend what you are trying to do and what and where. The more address changes that you present to USCIS, the higher the probability of there being one of your addresses getting the wrong information, or vice versa, or.... An old acronym comes to mind when dealing with USCIS: KISS - Keep It Simple S. 

 

Good luck on your immigration journey.

[craigybear 10]

Hmmm I wasn't very clear!

 

TLDR; we need to move out of our current apartment in Alrlington, VA due to an upcoming short-term work assignment and end of our lease.

We really don't want to jeopardize our place in the line for getting an interview at the Washington DC local office. 

So were hoping there's a way to keep the address associated with our filing yet receive the notifications/correspondence at another address; likely the home we own in Denver, CO.

The last thing we want is to be transferred to the Denver office which is, per the stats, even slower than Washington DC and we'd likely go to the back of the line for interview scheduling.

 

TLDR 2 - can you change the correspondence address but keep the address on the filing the same?
 

Thanks!

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

Ask USPS to forward your mail without changing address with the USCIS.

[craigybear 10]

11 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Ask USPS to forward your mail without changing address with the USCIS.

Anyone have experience of doing this, though? I was told by our immigration lawyer that USPS will not forward mail from USCIS. That would of course be the best option but one we had not considered due to this advice.

 

Our lawyer also gets all our correspondence in copy - so part of me thinks what if we just don't change the address? We will still get her to provide copies of what she receives. However, I wonder what happens if USCIS receives returned mail from our address...?

 

Edited May 29, 2019 by craigybear

[arken 4,197]

10 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Ask USPS to forward your mail without changing address with the USCIS.

USPS generally doesn’t forward USCIS mails. They usually mail it back to USCIS upon address conflict.

[craigybear 10]

1 minute ago, arken said:

USPS generally doesn’t forward USCIS mails. They usually mail it back to USCIS upon address conflict.

Do you know what USCIS does if this happens? Does it affect the case timeframes or the interview actually happening, for example?

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

12 minutes ago, craigybear said:

Anyone have experience of doing this, though? I was told by our immigration lawyer that USPS will not forward mail from USCIS. That would of course be the best option but one we had not considered due to this advice.

 

Our lawyer also gets all our correspondence in copy - so part of me thinks what if we just don't change the address? We will still get her to provide copies of what she receives. However, I wonder what happens if USCIS receives returned mail from our address...?

 

 

12 minutes ago, arken said:

USPS generally doesn’t forward USCIS mails. They usually mail it back to USCIS upon address conflict.

 

We have had it forwarded successfully. Also changed address twice.

 

If you have a lawyer that would receive the correspondence anyway, then there shouldn't be a concern. USCIS wouldn't stop sending mail after receiving a returned envelope. 

 

You could get a PO Box in the same area of your current address to preserve Washington as local office. 

Edited May 29, 2019 by Allaboutwaiting

[emekus94 1,125]

3 hours ago, craigybear said:

Hmmm I wasn't very clear!

 

TLDR; we need to move out of our current apartment in Alrlington, VA due to an upcoming short-term work assignment and end of our lease.

We really don't want to jeopardize our place in the line for getting an interview at the Washington DC local office. 

So were hoping there's a way to keep the address associated with our filing yet receive the notifications/correspondence at another address; likely the home we own in Denver, CO.

The last thing we want is to be transferred to the Denver office which is, per the stats, even slower than Washington DC and we'd likely go to the back of the line for interview scheduling.

 

TLDR 2 - can you change the correspondence address but keep the address on the filing the same?
 

Thanks!

The easiest thing will be to CHANGE your address with USCIS to the Denver office where you actually CAN get mail.
You do not get put in the back of the line to a new office when you move. You get put with your file date (so long as NBC- the center processing the documents has not already sent your case files to DC)

It's been mixed reviews regarding forwarding mail from USPS. Some are more successful than others but from what I have seen, that tends to create a bunch of hassle.

 

If you're not living in DC, i don't really know how you can keep that address. that's going to cause you more headaches during the interview process- unless perhaps as someone already mentioned, you used a lawyer based in DC that can get mail for you. 

Edited May 29, 2019 by emekus94

[craigybear 10]

6 hours ago, emekus94 said:

The easiest thing will be to CHANGE your address with USCIS to the Denver office where you actually CAN get mail.
You do not get put in the back of the line to a new office when you move. You get put with your file date (so long as NBC- the center processing the documents has not already sent your case files to DC)

It's been mixed reviews regarding forwarding mail from USPS. Some are more successful than others but from what I have seen, that tends to create a bunch of hassle.

 

If you're not living in DC, i don't really know how you can keep that address. that's going to cause you more headaches during the interview process- unless perhaps as someone already mentioned, you used a lawyer based in DC that can get mail for you. 

Our file was, I presume, sent to the DC office when we got the notification that our case was ready for interview to be scheduled in December. In following similar timelines at the DC office on this site, we do expect to receive our interview notification in the coming weeks.

 

As it is, our lawyer does receive copies of all our correspondence.

Edited May 30, 2019 by craigybear

[emekus94 1,125]

14 hours ago, craigybear said:

Our file was, I presume, sent to the DC office when we got the notification that our case was ready for interview to be scheduled in December. In following similar timelines at the DC office on this site, we do expect to receive our interview notification in the coming weeks.

 

As it is, our lawyer does receive copies of all our correspondence.

"ready to be schedule for interview" doesn't mean anything
It basically means that NBC has checked the case and nothing is missing for it pending the IO at the interview who can request all sorts of things from you. NBC might still be waiting for the local office to request the file.

To be more certain, you can call USCIS mainline directly. It normally tells you where your case is. If it says it's still at (NBC/Missouri), then it hasn't been sent to DC

If the automated process doesn't find your case, it means it has been moved to D.C.

 

Good luck on the move!

Edited May 30, 2019 by emekus94

[craigybear 10]

14 minutes ago, emekus94 said:

If the automated process doesn't find your case, it means it has been moved to D.C.

I entered the receipt number associated with the AOS and it stated that it could not access this case number using the automated service. I presume this means it is with the DC office.

Thanks for the tip!

[ITMFA 241]

6 minutes ago, craigybear said:

I entered the receipt number associated with the AOS and it stated that it could not access this case number using the automated service. I presume this means it is with the DC office.

Thanks for the tip!

Yeah mine has been saying that since I was "ready to be scheduled," so I'm hoping it's also at the DC office Hope we both get interviews soon! At least the weather's going to cool down around here next week...

[emekus94 1,125]

44 minutes ago, craigybear said:

I entered the receipt number associated with the AOS and it stated that it could not access this case number using the automated service. I presume this means it is with the DC office.

Thanks for the tip!

 

36 minutes ago, ITMFA said:

Yeah mine has been saying that since I was "ready to be scheduled," so I'm hoping it's also at the DC office Hope we both get interviews soon! At least the weather's going to cool down around here next week...

Interviews are usually 4-5 weeks from the time you get the notification/letter that it has been scheduled.
So y'all might be looking at July/August dates. Maybe a late June if they move fast. lol
Well best of luck to you both!