What Does In Care Of Name Mean on USCIS Forms?

On USCIS forms, the “In Care Of Name” field is where you write the name of the person who will receive your immigration mail when it goes to an address other than your own. You fill it in with that person’s full name, then list their street address, city, state, and ZIP code in the mailing-address lines that follow. On the envelope, USCIS mail ends up addressed to you “c/o” that person at their address. The field is optional, and you leave it blank if you receive your own mail at your own home.

The reason this small field matters: USCIS mails Requests for Evidence, approval notices, and secure documents like green cards to whatever mailing address is on file. If that mail doesn’t reach you in time, the case can suffer.

When to Use the Field

The c/o line exists for anyone whose mail needs to go somewhere other than their own mailbox. Common situations include students in temporary housing, temporary workers whose address may change mid-case, applicants staying with friends or relatives who own the mailbox, and people who travel frequently. In each case, the applicant names a trusted person at a stable address who can collect and forward immigration correspondence without delay.

You can also use it if you receive mail through a P.O. Box. The Form I-485 instructions note that applicants may list a U.S. Post Office box “if that is how you receive your mail” and should add an “In Care Of Name” when mail is sent to someone other than the applicant.¹ USCIS still requires a physical address elsewhere on most forms; the c/o applies only to the mailing address.

How to Format the Entry

Write the full name of the person receiving your mail on the “In Care Of Name” line. The street address, city, state, and ZIP code that follow belong to that person. Delivered mail looks like this:

JOHN DOE
C/O JANE SMITH
456 MAPLE STREET
ANYTOWN, ST 12345

USPS rules allow either person named on mail addressed in care of another to sign for the delivery.² Your designated person can accept certified mail and packages without any extra authorization from the post office.

Keep everything legible and complete. USCIS electronic systems have character limits that can truncate long entries, so use standard USPS abbreviations like ST for Street and APT for Apartment.³ A garbled address can cause a Request for Evidence to bounce back, and USCIS often will not know it never reached you until the response deadline has passed.

Which Forms Have the “In Care Of” Field

Most USCIS forms that ask for a mailing address include a dedicated “In Care Of Name” line. You’ll see it on:

Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status¹
Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, at Part 2, Item 10.f.⁴
Form I-134, Declaration of Financial Support, which includes separate c/o fields for both the supporter’s and the beneficiary’s mailing and physical addresses.⁵

The field is optional. If you receive your own mail reliably at your own address, leave it blank. Filling it in when you don’t need it can send correspondence to someone who isn’t expecting it.

Safe Address Filings for VAWA, T, and U Petitions

Forms for VAWA self-petitions, T visas, and U visas use a “safe mailing address” field instead of a general c/o line. The Form I-918 instructions tell petitioners who “do not feel secure in receiving correspondence regarding this petition at your home address” that they can list a P.O. Box or the address of a friend, attorney, or community organization.⁶

Information about these filings is protected under federal law. When a protected applicant provides a safe mailing address and has no attorney on file, USCIS sends all original notices and secure identity documents to that safe address rather than the home address.⁷ If you later file a new benefit request with a different address, that does not update the address on your earlier case; you need to change it separately for each filing.

If You Have an Attorney, Use Form G-28 Instead

The c/o field is not how you route mail to an immigration attorney or accredited representative. Form G-28 has checkboxes that let you direct original notices, secure identity documents like green cards, and the Form I-94 arrival record to your attorney’s office rather than your home. USCIS then sends originals to the attorney and copies to you.⁸

The G-28 instructions warn against listing the attorney’s address in the client mailing address field “unless it serves as the safe mailing address on the application or petition being filed.”⁹ Represented applicants should generally leave the c/o field on the underlying application blank and rely on the G-28 checkboxes.

One limit worth knowing: USCIS will not mail secure identity documents to a private or business address in a foreign country, though it will send them to a U.S. business address of an attorney admitted to practice outside the United States or to a military APO, FPO, or DPO address.⁹

What the C/O Person Is Expected to Do

The person you name in the c/o field takes on a real practical duty, even though USCIS does not formally bind them. Their job is to forward every piece of USCIS correspondence to you promptly. A Request for Evidence typically gives 30 to 87 days to respond, and the clock starts when USCIS mails the notice, not when you finally see it. If your c/o person sets a letter aside or discards it thinking it’s junk, you may lose the chance to respond.

Federal law also makes it a crime to open, hide, or destroy someone else’s mail with the intent to obstruct correspondence or pry into their affairs. The penalty is a fine, up to five years in prison, or both.¹⁰ Accepting delivery is fine; the USPS rule expressly allows either party named on a c/o envelope to sign for it.² The line falls between accepting the envelope and opening it without the applicant’s permission. If you’re the c/o recipient, hold the sealed envelope for the applicant unless they’ve asked you to open it.

Keeping the Address and C/O Name Current

Federal law requires most noncitizens in the United States to report any change of address to USCIS within 10 days of moving.¹¹ The exceptions are A and G visa holders and visa waiver visitors.¹²

The most direct way to update is the Enterprise Change of Address (E-COA) tool in your USCIS online account. You must enter the receipt number for each pending case you want updated; one submission does not automatically apply to every open case.¹³ Applicants with multiple filings (a concurrent I-130 and I-485, for example) often miss this and leave one case still pointing at an old address.

You can also file a paper Form AR-11 or send a signed written notice.¹² If you only need to change the c/o name and not the underlying street address, a written request to the service center handling your case is typically the right route, since the E-COA tool is built primarily for address changes.

What Goes Wrong When the Address Is Wrong

Errors range from mildly annoying to serious.

A misspelled c/o name or a wrong ZIP code can cause mail to bounce. If a Request for Evidence comes back undeliverable, USCIS may deny the case for failure to respond.¹⁴

Failing to report an address change within the required 10 days is a misdemeanor. The statutory penalty is a fine of up to $200, up to 30 days in jail, or both, and the statute authorizes USCIS to place someone in removal proceedings for failing to report unless the failure was reasonably excusable or not willful.¹⁵ Prosecutions on their own are rare, but the violation can factor into a broader enforcement action.

If a green card or employment authorization document gets lost because of an address problem, replacing it requires Form I-90. As of 2026, the fee is $415 for online filing or $465 for paper filing. One exception helps: if USCIS sent the card and it was returned to the agency as undeliverable, the replacement fee is waived entirely.¹⁶

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
2
Postal Explorer. 508 Recipient Services
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 11, Part A, Chapter 2 – USCIS-Issued Secure Identity Documents
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-134, Declaration of Financial Support
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-918, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status
7
NIWAP Library. Policy Alert – USCIS Policy Update Regarding Safe Address and Special Procedures for Persons Protected by 8 U.S.C. 1367
8
USCIS. Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative
9
USCIS. Instructions for Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1702 – Obstruction of Correspondence
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1305 – Notices of Change of Address
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 1, Part A, Chapter 10 – Changes of Address
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How to Change Your Address
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 1, Part E, Chapter 6 – Evidence
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1306 – Penalties
16
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1055 Fee Schedule