Your myUSCIS backup code is a one-time alphanumeric key that signs you into your account when your usual two-step verification method isn’t working. USCIS generates it once, right after you set up two-factor authentication, and it stands in for the code you’d normally get through an authenticator app, a text message, or an email.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How Can I Access My Account If I No Longer Have Access To My Two-Factor Verification Method Save it carefully. Without it, losing your phone or changing email providers can cut you off from pending filings.
When You’ll Actually Need It
Every myUSCIS sign-in asks for a verification code after your email and password. The backup code replaces that step when your usual method fails: a new phone, a reset authenticator app, a changed email address, or a phone number that’s temporarily out of service.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How Can I Access My Account If I No Longer Have Access To My Two-Factor Verification Method Any of those scenarios, without a backup code, means you can’t reach case status updates, respond to a Request for Evidence, or open notices from USCIS.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Benefits of a USCIS Online Account
Treat the code with the same care as your password. Anyone who has both has full access to your account.
Saving the Code at Setup
USCIS shows the code once, immediately after you configure two-step verification. If you click past that screen without recording it, you won’t see it again unless you generate a new one from your account settings.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How Can I Access My Account If I No Longer Have Access To My Two-Factor Verification Method
The point of the code is to survive the loss of your phone, so don’t store it there. A few practical places to keep it:
- Printed out and filed with your other immigration documents.
- Saved inside a password manager like 1Password or Bitwarden, which encrypts the entry and syncs it across devices.
- Handwritten on a note kept somewhere secure and separate from your phone.
A screenshot on the same phone that runs your authenticator app doesn’t count as a backup. If that phone dies, both methods die with it.
Signing In With the Backup Code
The sign-in process adds one detour when you use the backup code:
- Go to myaccount.uscis.gov and enter your email and password as usual.
- On the Verification Code page, click “Try another verification method” instead of waiting for a code you can’t receive.
- Enter your backup code on the Backup Code page and click Submit.
Once the code is accepted, the system sends you straight to the Two-Step Verification Method page to pick a new primary method: authenticator app, text, or email.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How Can I Access My Account If I No Longer Have Access To My Two-Factor Verification Method Complete that step. If you close the browser first, you’ll be back to using the backup code next time.
Replacing the Code After You Use It
After you’re signed in, open your account settings and generate a fresh backup code. Do the same any time you suspect someone else has seen the old one. Generating a new code immediately revokes the previous one.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How Can I Access My Account If I No Longer Have Access To My Two-Factor Verification Method
If you stored the old code in more than one spot, update every location. An outdated code sitting in your password manager or filing cabinet is worse than having nothing, because it makes you think you’re covered when you aren’t.
If You Sign In Through Login.gov
The myUSCIS sign-in page has two paths: a direct USCIS login and a separate “Sign in with Login.gov” button. Login.gov handles backup codes differently. It issues a set of ten codes, and each one works only once. After the tenth, the system prompts you to download a new set.3Login.gov. Backup Codes
Login.gov also lets you register more than one authentication method on the same account, so you can pair an authenticator app with text messages as a second option. Setting up at least two methods is the surest way to never need a backup code in the first place.4Login.gov. How Do I Add or Change the Authentication Method on My Account
One warning from Login.gov itself: don’t use backup codes as your only method. If you lose them with nothing else set up, you’ll have to delete the Login.gov account and start over, which involves a mandatory 24-hour waiting period and could temporarily cut off access to your USCIS filings.5Login.gov. How Do I Delete My Account
If You’ve Lost the Backup Code Too
Losing both your primary method and your backup code doesn’t lock you out permanently, but recovery takes longer. For direct myUSCIS accounts, submit a help request through the technical support form at my.uscis.gov/account/v1/needhelp.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Online Account and Technical Support You can also call the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283 for live help.7U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Contact Center
For Login.gov accounts, you’ll need to delete the account and create a new one. From the sign-in page, enter your email and password, click “Choose another security option” on the authentication page, then scroll to the bottom for the delete link. A confirmation email arrives immediately and a second one 24 hours later with instructions to finish the deletion.5Login.gov. How Do I Delete My Account Once the new account is created, re-link it to your USCIS filings.
Never Share the Code
No USCIS employee needs your backup code to help with your case. USCIS won’t contact you through social media, and legitimate USCIS emails come from a .gov address.8U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Common Scams Anyone asking for the code by email, text, phone, or direct message is running a scam. Suspicious emails claiming to be from USCIS can be forwarded to USCIS.Webmaster@uscis.dhs.gov.