USPS Change of Address: Filing PS Form 3575 Online or In Person

To file a USPS change of address, submit PS Form 3575 either online at usps.com for a $1.25 identity verification fee or in person at any post office for free. Standard forwarding sends your First-Class mail to the new address for 12 months on a permanent move, or for anywhere from 15 days to a year on a temporary one.¹

Filing Online vs. In Person

Online is faster. You fill out the form at usps.com, pay $1.25 with a credit or debit card tied to your name and the address on the request, and get a confirmation code by email. Save that code. You will need it to modify or cancel the request from home later.¹

In person is free. Pick up PS Form 3575 in the post office lobby or inside the Mover’s Guide packet at the counter, fill it out in black or blue ink with every character inside the printed boxes, and hand it to a retail associate with a government-issued photo ID. Accepted IDs include a state driver’s license, U.S. passport or passport card, military ID, permanent resident card, tribal identification card, or a Mexican Matricula Consular card. Social Security cards, birth certificates, and credit cards are not accepted.² Paper forms go through manual processing, so they take a bit longer to activate than online submissions.

Individual, Family, or Business Move

The form asks you to classify the move. An individual move covers one person. A family move covers everyone at the address who shares the same last name. Picking the wrong category is one of the most common mistakes people make, and the consequence is simple: household members left off the request keep getting mail at the old address or have it sent back to the sender.

A business move filed in person needs extra documentation. The person submitting the form has to prove authority to redirect the company’s mail with a notarized letter, power of attorney, or a letter on company letterhead signed by someone in a leadership role.¹

Temporary or Permanent

A temporary change of address works for relocations lasting 15 days to one year, such as a semester at school or an extended stay with family. When the temporary period ends, mail automatically reverts to your original address.¹

A permanent change of address forwards First-Class mail for 12 months. The word “permanent” is misleading here. After those 12 months, USPS returns your mail to the sender for six more months with a label showing your new address. Once the full 18-month window closes, undeliverable mail is returned with no forwarding information at all.¹

Setting the Start Date

Pick the date you want forwarding to begin. It cannot be backdated more than 45 days from the date you submit the form; older requests are rejected and USPS mails you a notification letter.³ Getting the ZIP+4 code right on both addresses helps automated sorting equipment process the redirect without delays.

After you submit, USPS sends two separate notices as a fraud safeguard. A Move Validation Letter goes to your old address so anyone still living there knows a change was filed. About five business days before your start date, a Customer Notification Letter with your confirmation code arrives at the new address.¹

Forwarding can begin within three business days of your requested start date, but USPS recommends allowing up to two weeks for sorting systems to fully update.¹ During that transition, some mail may still land at the old address. If you are on good terms with the new occupants or your former landlord, letting them know to expect a brief overlap is a practical step no form can replace.

What Actually Gets Forwarded

Not every piece of mail follows you.

Forwarded for free: First-Class mail, Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, USPS Ground Advantage packages, and periodicals like newsletters and magazines.¹
Forwarded with a fee: Media Mail is forwarded, but you pay the shipping cost from your local post office to the new address.¹
Not forwarded: USPS Marketing Mail, meaning the bulk of coupons, flyers, and catalogs, which is either discarded or returned to the sender depending on the mailer’s instructions.⁴
Never forwarded: Anything addressed to “Occupant” or “Postal Customer,” perishable items, and mail where the sender printed handling instructions like “Return Service Requested.”⁴

Magazines have a quirk: they forward for the first 60 days, and after that undeliverable copies are discarded unless the publisher has paid for additional handling.⁴ Update your address directly with any publisher whose subscription you care about.

Changing or Canceling the Request

If your move date shifts or falls through, you can modify or cancel the request online using the confirmation code from your submission email.¹ Without that code, you have to go into a post office in person. This is the single most common headache people run into. They delete the confirmation email and lose the ability to edit anything from home.

Extending Beyond 12 Months

If 12 months of standard forwarding is not enough, USPS sells paid extensions in three tiers:⁵

6 additional months: $24.50
12 additional months: $36.50
18 additional months: $48.50

Eighteen months is the maximum extension, bringing total possible forwarding to two and a half years from the original start date. Once purchased, extended forwarding cannot be canceled or refunded, so only buy it if you are sure senders have not yet updated your address on their end.¹

Situations the Standard Form Does Not Cover

If you are moving outside the United States, you must file the change of address in person at a post office before you leave the country. Online filing is not available for international moves, and identity verification can only be completed at post office locations within the 50 states and Puerto Rico. Once you are abroad, you lose the ability to submit or modify the request.¹

An executor or administrator of an estate can redirect a deceased person’s mail, but only in person and only with letters testamentary or letters of administration from the probate court. A death certificate alone is not enough.⁶

Agencies You Still Need to Notify Separately

Filing PS Form 3575 does not automatically update your address with every government agency. The IRS notes that USPS data from the National Change of Address database may update its records, but this is not guaranteed, and not all post offices forward government checks. The IRS recommends notifying it directly using Form 8822 for individuals or Form 8822-B for businesses, and address changes take four to six weeks to process.⁷

Your state DMV, banks, insurance companies, and subscription services all need separate notifications. Relying on USPS forwarding for critical correspondence works for a few months and then falls apart as the 12-month window closes. Treat the change of address form as a temporary safety net while you update every account individually.

Avoiding Third-Party Scam Sites

Search engines often surface third-party websites that look official but charge up to $40 to process a change of address, and some never actually submit the request. The only legitimate online option is usps.com. If a site charges more than $1.25 or asks for information USPS would never need, such as your Social Security number, close the tab. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service warns consumers to process address changes only through usps.com or at a local post office.⁸

1
United States Postal Service. Standard Forward Mail and Change of Address
2
Federal Register. Forms of Identification
3
United States Postal Service. Postal Bulletin – Change of Address Mail Forwarding Start Date Policy Change
4
Postal Explorer. 507 Mailer Services
5
United States Postal Service. Extended Mail Forwarding
6
United States Postal Service. Mail for the Deceased
7
Internal Revenue Service. Address Changes
8
United States Postal Inspection Service. Change of Address Scams