USCIS moved the filing address for nine forms. Mail to the old one only works until 9 November
Last updated 2026-10-29 · General information, not legal advice
On 7 October 2026 USCIS changed the paper filing address for nine forms, among them I-485, I-765, I-130, I-129, I-131, I-360, I-539, I-824, and the I-907 mailed to upgrade a pending I-140. Packages sent to a prior filing location are still accepted if they carry a postmark of 9 November 2026 or earlier. For anything posted after that, USCIS has not said what it will do with mail reaching an old lockbox; the I-485 address page says only that applications not mailed to the correct address may see processing delays. Under 8 C.F.R. § 103.2 a rejected filing keeps no filing date, which puts the receipt date — and with it the months that count toward a delay suit — back at the start. As of 29 October 2026 there are 11 days left on the old addresses.
Which forms moved
USCIS issued no press release. Its alerts page lists two items for October 2026 — the Charlotte asylum office on 9 October and a litigation update on 26 October — and nothing for 7 October. The notice lives at the top of each form's own address page and on the lockbox chart for non-family-based forms, which states: "On Oct. 7, 2026, we changed the filing location for certain non-family-based forms." (USCIS Lockbox Filing Locations Chart for Certain Non-Family-Based Forms)
The table below records what each page said when it was read on 29 October 2026. Every link goes to the page where USCIS publishes the address, which is the page to open again on the day you post.
| Form | Notice present | Where USCIS publishes the address |
|---|---|---|
| I-485, Adjustment of Status | Yes | uscis.gov/i-485-addresses |
| I-765, Employment Authorization | Yes | uscis.gov/i-765-addresses |
| I-130, Petition for Alien Relative | Yes | uscis.gov/i-130-addresses |
| I-129, Nonimmigrant Worker | Yes | uscis.gov/i-129-addresses |
| I-131, Travel and Parole Documents | Yes | uscis.gov/i-131-addresses |
| I-360, including VAWA self-petitions | Yes | uscis.gov/i-360-addresses |
| I-539, Extend or Change Status | Yes | uscis.gov/i-539-addresses |
| I-824, Action on an Approved Application | Yes | uscis.gov/i-824-addresses |
| I-907 mailed to upgrade a pending I-140 | Yes | uscis.gov/i-140-addresses |
| I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker | No notice on the page | uscis.gov/i-140-addresses |
| N-400, Naturalization | No notice; page last reviewed 24 January 2025 | N-400 direct filing addresses |
| I-751, Remove Conditions on Residence | No notice; page last reviewed 24 September 2024 | uscis.gov/i-751-direct-filing-addresses |
The address still depends on where you live. The non-family-based chart sorts I-131, I-360, I-485 and I-765 filings into the Dallas, Phoenix and Chicago lockboxes by the applicant's state of residence. Family-based I-130 and I-485 filings run off a separate family-based chart, and employment-based and investor I-485 filings have their own addresses, listed category by category on the I-485 address page. This site does not reproduce those addresses: a copy here would not change when USCIS changes them.
USCIS has not published a map from the old address to the new one. Each page lists where to file today and says nothing about which lockbox the address you used last time has become. A printed set of form instructions, a checklist from an employer, or the address a colleague used last year is therefore not usable as a cross-check.
Two dates appear in the same notice. The pages describe a "30-day grace period" and then give the cut-off as a postmark of 9 November 2026. Thirty days from 7 October is Friday 6 November, three days earlier than the Monday USCIS prints. The agency does not explain the gap. The date it states in writing is 9 November.
What this means for a delay case
The receipt date is the start of every clock in a delay case, and the address decides the receipt date. 8 C.F.R. § 103.2(a)(7)(i) records the receipt date as of the actual date of receipt "at the location designated for filing such benefit request" (8 C.F.R. § 103.2, full text on govinfo.gov). The 80% line, the 93% line that opens a case inquiry, and the months a court will count all run from that day.
A rejected filing keeps no filing date. Paragraph (a)(7)(ii) of the same regulation says so, and it lists among the grounds for rejection a request not "filed in compliance with the regulations governing the filing" of that specific form; paragraph (a)(6) requires every benefit request to be filed in accordance with the form instructions. A package sent to a superseded lockbox sits between those two sentences. USCIS has not said whether it will reject mail that reaches a prior location after 9 November. What its I-485 address page says is: "Applications that are not mailed to the correct address may experience processing delays."
Refiling after a rejection costs the months already waited. A fresh receipt date is the only one on the case, so the thresholds on the I-485 delay page and the lines on the processing-times page are measured from the later date. The same person, with the same package, becomes eligible to sue months later than they would have been. A wrong form edition does the same thing, and that is set out in the note on which edition USCIS accepts.
A court counts the time after USCIS has the case. Whether a delay is unreasonable turns on what the agency did with the file and how long it held it. Weeks spent in the post, or spent rejected and resent, do not go into that count.
If the package has already gone, work from the receipt notice. The Received Date printed on Form I-797C is the date USCIS recognises. If four or five weeks pass with no receipt notice, treat the case as not yet filed rather than treating the date you posted it as the start of the wait.
What to do
- Open your form's address page on the day you post. Every row in the table above links to it. The address turns on your state of residence and your eligibility category, so a screenshot taken a few months ago is not a source.
- Posting on or before 9 November: keep the postmark. The grace period runs on the postmark, not on the day you handed the package over. Certified mail or a courier receipt carries that date — keep it with the copy of the filing.
- Posting after 9 November: use only the address published now. Once the grace period closes, USCIS has made no commitment about mail arriving at a former lockbox.
- File online where the form allows it. The I-485 form page states that online filing is available for certain applicants and their representatives, which takes the address out of the question altogether. That page links to the categories.
- Check every form in a combined package separately. An I-485 filed with I-765 and I-131, or an I-130 filed with an I-485, goes to the address set by the principal filing; an I-907 mailed to upgrade a pending I-140 uses the address on the I-140 page.
- If a package comes back, read the rejection notice's stated reason. Whether it names the address or the form edition decides what to change before refiling, and the new receipt date replaces the old one.
- If your receipt date is earlier than the date published for your row, file the free case inquiry. Keep the response: it shows USCIS had the opportunity to act and did not.
To see where your own wait stands against the threshold for your category, run the 60-second check using the receipt date on your Form I-797C.