What Is Form AR-11? USCIS Change of Address Filing and Deadlines

Form AR-11, the Alien’s Change of Address Card, is the free federal form most non-citizens in the United States must file with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) within 10 days of moving to a new address.¹² The clock starts the day you move in, not the day you sign a lease or start house hunting. Miss it and you can face fines, jail time, or removal proceedings.³

Who Has to File

The rule reaches almost every non-citizen physically present in the country: lawful permanent residents, H-1B and other employment-visa workers, F-1 and M-1 students, J-1 exchange visitors, and anyone else who is not a U.S. citizen or national.⁴

Three groups are exempt:

A-visa holders (diplomats and their immediate family)
G-visa holders (representatives of international organizations and their staff)
Visitors admitted under the Visa Waiver Program

The obligation ends for good once you naturalize. After the oath, you’re a U.S. citizen and no longer need to file AR-11 for future moves.⁵

How to File

USCIS offers two ways to file, and the agency strongly prefers the online option because it updates your record immediately and can push the new address to pending cases.⁶

Online

Log in to your USCIS online account and open the change-of-address tool (E-COA) from the “My Account” menu. Enter your new address and the receipt numbers for any pending applications or petitions. The system updates your record and generates a confirmation you should save or print.⁵

By Mail

Download the paper form from the USCIS website, fill it out, and mail it to:⁷

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Citizenship and Immigration Services
Attn: Change of Address
1344 Pleasants Drive
Harrisonburg, VA 22801⁸

Use certified mail with a return receipt or a tracked courier so you have proof of the mailing date. A paper AR-11 satisfies the reporting law but does not automatically update your address for pending applications, so if you have an open case USCIS recommends using the online tool instead.⁶

What You Need to Complete the Form

AR-11 is short, usually a single page. Have this information ready:

Your full legal name, exactly as it appears on your immigration documents
Date of birth and country of citizenship
Your Alien Registration Number (A-Number), the letter “A” followed by 8 or 9 digits, found on your green card, employment authorization document, or immigrant visa⁹
Your previous full address, including apartment number and ZIP code
Your complete new residential address
Receipt numbers for any pending USCIS filings

Updating Pending Cases

Filing AR-11 by itself satisfies your reporting obligation under the law, but it may not redirect mail on an open case, particularly if you filed on paper. When you use the online tool, enter the receipt number for every pending application, petition, or benefit request so the change applies to each one. Skip a receipt number and that case may keep sending correspondence to your old address.⁶

Some applicants, including those with protected-status cases, intercountry adoption petitions, and certain special immigrant cases, cannot use the online E-COA tool and should follow the specific instructions on the USCIS “How to Change Your Address” page or call the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283.⁵

Penalties for Missing the Deadline

Failing to report an address change is a federal misdemeanor. A conviction carries a fine of up to $200, up to 30 days in jail, or both.³ The bigger risk is immigration consequences. Whether or not you’re prosecuted, you can be placed in removal proceedings unless you show the government the failure was reasonably excusable or not willful.

There’s a practical cost too. If USCIS sends a hearing notice, interview appointment, or request for evidence to the old address and you never see it, your case can be denied or treated as abandoned even when your underlying claim was strong.

Extra Steps for F-1 and M-1 Students

If you’re on F-1 or M-1 student status, you must also report the new address to your designated school official (DSO) within 10 days. Your DSO updates your record in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). Notification can happen in person, by phone, or by email.¹⁰ The SEVIS update is a separate obligation from AR-11; one doesn’t cover the other.

VAWA, T, and U Cases

If you have a pending or approved VAWA self-petition, T nonimmigrant status, U nonimmigrant petition, or a Form I-751 abuse waiver, USCIS applies confidentiality procedures to your address change and treats the new address as a safe address for all future correspondence.¹¹

Update your address for these cases by calling the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283 or mailing a completed AR-11 or signed written notice directly to the service center handling your case. You have to make the request separately for each pending form, and USCIS recommends certified or return-receipt mail so you have proof of delivery.

If You’re a Sponsor: Form I-865 Is Different

If you signed a Form I-864 Affidavit of Support to sponsor an immigrant, you have a separate address-change duty on a different form. Sponsors file Form I-865, Sponsor’s Notice of Change of Address, within 30 days of moving, not 10.¹² The duty lasts until the sponsored immigrant naturalizes, earns credit for 40 qualifying quarters of work, permanently leaves the country, loses permanent resident status, or dies.¹³

Penalties are stiffer than for AR-11. A sponsor who misses the deadline faces a civil fine of $250 to $2,000, rising to $2,000 to $5,000 if the sponsor knew the sponsored immigrant was receiving means-tested public benefits at the time.¹² If you’re both a non-citizen and a sponsor, you owe both filings: AR-11 within 10 days and I-865 within 30.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1305 – Notices of Change of Address
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1055 Fee Schedule
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1306 – Penalties
4
eCFR. 8 CFR 265.1 – Reporting Change of Address
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 1, Part A, Chapter 10 – Changes of Address
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How to Change Your Address
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. AR-11, Alien’s Change of Address Card
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form AR-11, Alien’s Change of Address Card
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Tips on Finding Your A-Number and DOS Case ID
10
Study in the States (DHS). Students: Ensure Your Address is Correct in SEVIS
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Change of Address Procedures for VAWA/T/U Cases and Form I-751 Abuse Waivers
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1183a – Requirements for Sponsor’s Affidavit of Support
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-865, Instructions for Sponsor’s Notice of Change of Address