Postal vs. Street address

[BSquared 9]

Hey y'all,

My fiancée and I are confused - we have searched the forums for advice on how to get our correspondence from USCIS delivered to our US PO Box. We have not filed any paperwork yet, but we want to make sure that mail gets delivered to the PO Box and NOT to the home address.

The posts that we have found so far seem to vary...some saying that they get mail delivered to the PO Box no problem, and others saying that you MUST get mail delivered to a home address because USCIS won't deliver to a PO Box...so were are hoping for a definitive answer before we begin the process of filing our paperwork.

If we CAN get our mail delivered to the PO Box, should we enter this as our address on ALL the forms (except if it specifically asks for a street address)? And should we include it on the cover sheet?

Thanks for your help!

Ben & Becks.

Edited April 28, 2011 by BSquared

[Ready to do it 101]

I read here that it most be a street address. Not only that, it must be the street address to where you physically live.

I have had all my mail delivered to a mail boxes etc type place for the last 15 years. In fact, that is what I consider my address. Income Taxes, bank statements, credit cards, driver's licence, everything. No one even knows I live at the physical address I use. Even if they run a credit check the credit bureuas would have the mail boxes etc place as my address. I.e. My physical address will not show up on any background checks or anything as I have never used it for anything in 15 years... not even a signed lease agreement.

I had to find out what my physcial address was for this process as everyone stated that it must be the physical address where you live. Oh,and I had to tell the mailman that I am going to start checking my mailbox now. For years he has knocked on my door to tell me to check my box... and for years I have always said, "No! Anything I need goes to my mailbox that I pay for. No one knows I live at this physical address so it's all junk mail."... until now.

Hope that answers your question

[BSquared 9]

I read here that it most be a street address. Not only that, it must be the street address to where you physically live.

I have had all my mail delivered to a mail boxes etc type place for the last 15 years. In fact, that is what I consider my address. Income Taxes, bank statements, credit cards, driver's licence, everything. No one even knows I live at the physical address I use. Even if they run a credit check the credit bureuas would have the mail boxes etc place as my address. I.e. My physical address will not show up on any background checks or anything as I have never used it for anything in 15 years... not even a signed lease agreement.

I had to find out what my physcial address was for this process as everyone stated that it must be the physical address where you live. Oh,and I had to tell the mailman that I am going to start checking my mailbox now. For years he has knocked on my door to tell me to check my box... and for years I have always said, "No! Anything I need goes to my mailbox that I pay for. No one knows I live at this physical address so it's all junk mail."... until now.

Hope that answers your question

Well of course if I had to use a street address, I'd use my own and not someone else's. However, when we searched the forums for other people's answers, there were several cases where they used their PO Box instead of their actual address. So I'm sure there has to be a way to do it - we just want to make sure it's done properly. There are several places in the US where they use nothing BUT PO Boxes. I'm sure there is some sort of rule or someone has read a site that states the actual rules/guidelines. :-( But thanks so much for your advice. We just need it to go to the PO Box and not the street address. Thanks again.

[Hell0W0rld 10]

On some if the forms they ask for a mailing address that's where you would put yout po box on the forms without asking for a mailing address, you can put your po box also. It worked for me thus far....

[BSquared 9]

On some if the forms they ask for a mailing address that's where you would put yout po box on the forms without asking for a mailing address, you can put your po box also. It worked for me thus far....

We're doing the I-129F... and the only places it asks for an address are on the I-129F A#2 (Address), B#14 (address in US where your fiancé intends to live), and on the G-325A (address for the past 5 years)... none of those give us the option to specify mailing or regular address - I guess that's why there's such confusion.

[Ready to do it 101]

I don't think there is really any confusion. I researched this extensively, as you can see I absolutely wanted to use what I call my "PO Box." Every single post I read on this site and elsewhere stated that you MUST use the physical address where you live... no PO Boxes, boxes, etc can be used. The poster that just answered was the first time I have read a post stating that it should be ok to use anything other than your physical mailing address. Just answering your question based on what I have read. I'm pretty #######. If I thought I could get away using my non-physical address, I would have. Afterall, I have NEVER used my physical address for ANYTHING... always my box. I'll probably get an RFE stating that my physical address isn't really my address. They really will not find anything that shows me at my physical address if they do a background check (not even the US Census). The only way they can confirm that I live at my physical address is if they come knock on my door and see me.

We're doing the I-129F... and the only places it asks for an address are on the I-129F A#2 (Address), B#14 (address in US where your fiancé intends to live), and on the G-325A (address for the past 5 years)... none of those give us the option to specify mailing or regular address - I guess that's why there's such confusion.

[BSquared 9]

I don't think there is really any confusion. I researched this extensively, as you can see I absolutely wanted to use what I call my "PO Box." Every single post I read on this site and elsewhere stated that you MUST use the physical address where you live... no PO Boxes, boxes, etc can be used. The poster that just answered was the first time I have read a post stating that it should be ok to use anything other than your physical mailing address. Just answering your question based on what I have read. I'm pretty #######. If I thought I could get away using my non-physical address, I would have. Afterall, I have NEVER used my physical address for ANYTHING... always my box. I'll probably get an RFE stating that my physical address isn't really my address. They really will not find anything that shows me at my physical address if they do a background check (not even the US Census). The only way they can confirm that I live at my physical address is if they come knock on my door and see me.

If you type ... po box ... in the search box - there are several posts that pop up and discuss people using PO Boxes. I think that's why we figured there was a way to use it - and as the other poster stated, they did it. So I believe it is possible, we just want to make sure that we have everything filled out properly in order to do so.

[Ryan H 3,903]

If we CAN get our mail delivered to the PO Box, should we enter this as our address on ALL the forms (except if it specifically asks for a street address)?

Since I have all important mail directed to my PO Box, that's the address I used on any and all forms when asked unless it was specifically necessary to use my street address. An example of this would be where it asks for the address where the person you are petitioning for intends to live.

[Ready to do it 101]

Fair enough. Wow, I wish I would have known about that search button. I thought that was a google search button. I have spent hours upon hours over the last 5 months going through each post on this site looking for info that I needed. Good luck to you.

If you type ... po box ... in the search box - there are several posts that pop up and discuss people using PO Boxes. I think that's why we figured there was a way to use it - and as the other poster stated, they did it. So I believe it is possible, we just want to make sure that we have everything filled out properly in order to do so.

[BSquared 9]

Since I have all important mail directed to my PO Box, that's the address I used on any and all forms when asked unless it was specifically necessary to use my street address. An example of this would be where it asks for the address where the person you are petitioning for intends to live.

So basically use the PO Box for everything and don't mention the home address on anything but the G-325A (since I've had the PO Box for less than the 5 years mentioned.) Correct?

[BSquared 9]

Fair enough. Wow, I wish I would have known about that search button. I thought that was a google search button. I have spent hours upon hours over the last 5 months going through each post on this site looking for info that I needed. Good luck to you.

It's basically... "sponsored" by google I guess. But it is a google search button - but it google searches EVERYTHING on the VJ site and ONLY the VJ site. Good luck to you too. And thanks for the replies.

[Ryan H 3,903]

So basically use the PO Box for everything and don't mention the home address on anything but the G-325A (since I've had the PO Box for less than the 5 years mentioned.) Correct?

For a G-325A, that would fall under the category of it being specifically necessary to put my street address. Only use street address for G-325A.

[BSquared 9]

For a G-325A, that would fall under the category of it being specifically necessary to put my street address. Only use street address for G-325A.

So then basically the only spot for the PO Box would be the address section on the I-129F A#2... (unless used on the "intent to marry" and relating papers..) Thanks so much for your help.

[BSquared 9]

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Edited April 28, 2011 by BSquared

[nickm 1]

i didn't read every thing, so if you have an answer already i'm sorry, but...

USCIS wants your postal address, i had the same issue as you, but for AOS, i was using a PO Box too. All they care is that you get the correspondence they send you.

Fill in the form with your postal address, unless it specifically asks for physical address, then like i did send a cover letter stating the adress given id postal and this is my physical address.. blah blah blah.

Good luck