LIFESTYLE

American Lifestyle Guide: What to Do After You Move to the US

This American lifestyle guide maps separate filings for your address, Social Security card, state ID, and Selective Service so official mail still reaches you.

Published

3 years ago

November 3, 2023

Harry

If you are planning a move to the United States, or you have just landed and the list is already longer than the week, start with a mailing address you will still have when official cards go out. Work, a license, school forms, and the card that shows permanent residence all depend on that address being one you can open.

An American lifestyle guide that stays on neighborhoods and prices leaves out the filing that decides whether those cards show up. The post office, immigration, Social Security, and your state license office each keep a separate record, and a notice sent to one of them leaves the others unchanged.

What follows is that sequence in the order the offices force on you. You will see where to report a move, how a Social Security number is issued, what a state license is worth at the airport, who must register with Selective Service, what to finish before a dog flies, and how time abroad can affect permanent residence.

The Errands Inside Your First Weeks in the United States

USCIS points new arrivals to a free guide, Welcome to the United States, which you can download in 14 languages. Read it once before you split the tasks across different counters, because it is the plain map of early life here.

Find a place to live.
Find transportation.
Get a Social Security number and a driver’s license.
Get a job.
Register your children for school.
Find healthcare.
Take care of your money.
Improve your English.
Find free local information and connect with groups that help immigrants.

Getting a job, for a lawful permanent resident, is among the rights that guide names, together with the right to own property, and payroll uses a Social Security number to report wages. School enrollment and healthcare depend on the district and the clinic where you live, which set their own papers. Federal income taxes are filed with the IRS, and the duties beside those rights include Selective Service registration for some men and an immigration address report each time you move.

Those errands feel like a single weekend. Several of them are filings that do not transfer from one agency to another, and the address is the first place that split shows up.

American lifestyle guide to address filings after you move — Social Security card and USCIS address change for newcomers

Filing a New Address With Each Office

Most noncitizens have to report a move to USCIS within 10 days of moving inside the United States or its territories. The clock is 10 days, and a change you file only with the post office does not satisfy it.

The practical way to file is the change-of-address tool in a USCIS online account, which updates the record almost immediately and means you do not mail Form AR-11. If a case is still pending, put the receipt number of every open application, petition, or request into that tool so each file moves with you. If you cannot use the online tool, mail Form AR-11, the paper change-of-address card, inside the same window.

MAIL FROM USCIS IS NOT FORWARDED

Post office only: A forwarding order sends ordinary mail to the new home and does not change the address on file with USCIS.
Immigration mail: The Postal Service will not forward mail from USCIS, so a notice or a Green Card can remain at the old address.
Open cases: Put the receipt number for every pending case into the online tool, or that case can keep the old address.

Sponsors who signed an affidavit of support have their own row in the table below. If you are a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, or a lawful permanent resident and you signed that affidavit for someone else, Form I-865 is your filing, and the new resident’s report does not submit it for you.

One afternoon of errands still leaves a gap if a row is skipped. Match the filing to the office that keeps that record.

What has to change	Where you file	When
Immigration record, notices, and the Green Card mailing	USCIS online account, or Form AR-11 by mail	Within 10 days of the move
Ordinary letters and packages	U.S. Postal Service change of address	As soon as the new address can receive mail
Social Security card that has not arrived	Social Security, if you gave a different mailing address	Before that card is mailed
Sponsor who signed an affidavit of support	Form I-865	Within 30 days of the sponsor’s move
Driver’s license or state ID	The state motor vehicle agency	On that state’s own deadline

A and G visa holders, and visitors under the visa waiver program, sit outside the immigration report. Everyone else in the country is covered, including permanent residents and most people on temporary visas. A later move starts that duty again: a forwarding order from the first address does not update USCIS for the lease you sign afterward, and it still will not send USCIS mail there.

How to Get a Social Security Number After You Arrive

You need a Social Security number to work, to collect Social Security benefits, and for some other government services. Generally, only a noncitizen the Department of Homeland Security has authorized to work can get one. The publication on Social Security numbers for noncitizens is the document to keep with your papers, and applying for the number and the card is free.

Which path you are on decides whether you ever sit in a Social Security office. The timings below belong to one path each, and mixing them is how people call too early or wait through the wrong clock.

How you asked	What happens	Timing
On the immigrant visa application	The card is mailed to the U.S. address on that application. In most cases you do not visit an office. If you already had a number, this path sends a replacement card.	Within 3 weeks after you arrive. Call if you change that address or if the card has not come.
On Form I-485	USCIS collects Social Security details on the same form you use to apply for permanent residence.	Call if the card has not come within 14 days after the Green Card arrives.
At a Social Security office	You start online, then finish in person with original documents.	Wait 10 days after you arrive so your entry record can be verified, then finish the office visit within 45 days of starting the application online.

A Number Requested on Your Immigrant Visa

If you asked for a Social Security number as part of the immigrant visa application, the Department of State and Homeland Security share that request with Social Security. The card goes to the U.S. address you wrote on the application, and Social Security’s instructions for this path also tie that mailing to the address where the Green Card is sent.

If the visa form lists a cousin’s apartment and you sign a lease two weeks later, the Social Security card is still aimed at the first mailbox until you report the change. The Green Card follows the immigration address, so the filing above has to be made as well or both cards chase the old door. Use the visa row of the table for when to call.

A Number Requested on Form I-485

If you are already in the United States and you apply for permanent residence on Form I-485, you can ask for the Social Security card on that same form. A blank that immigration can approve without is still a blank Social Security needs for the card, so fill the identity fields even when they feel optional.

Your name: Match it to the immigration form, including the order of family names.
Date of birth: Use the date on your passport and on your birth record.
Parents’ names: Social Security uses them to process the card.
Country of birth and sex: The card process asks for sex as male or female.

If the Green Card arrives and the Social Security card does not follow inside the I-485 row’s window, call. Do not wait for a second copy to appear on its own.

A First Visit to a Social Security Office

If you did not ask on the visa and you did not ask on Form I-485, the office-visit row is your path. The wait is there so the entry record can be checked online before the card is issued, which is faster than a file that cannot be matched.

After the wait on the office-visit row, start online on the page for requesting a number for the first time, or complete Form SS-5 if you cannot start online, and finish the visit inside the window on that same row.
Make the appointment. If the site will not let you book it, call 1-800-772-1213, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, or TTY 1-800-325-0778.
Bring originals or copies certified by the agency that issued them. Photocopies, notarized copies, and a receipt showing you applied for a document are not accepted. You need at least two separate documents, even though one document can cover two facts, such as an employment card used for both identity and work permission.
Bring your unexpired foreign passport and a current immigration document: the Green Card or machine-readable immigrant visa (Form I-551), Form I-94, or an employment authorization document (Form I-766).
Bring proof of age. Offer a foreign birth certificate if you can get it within 10 business days. If you cannot, an unexpired passport or a document from Homeland Security can be considered.
Students and exchange visitors bring the extra school or sponsor paper: Form I-20 for F-1 and M-1 students, and Form DS-2019 for J-1 and J-2 visitors. Some J-1 students, student interns, and international visitors also need a signed letter on sponsor letterhead that authorizes employment.

Social Security mails the card after it has your information and has checked the documents with the offices that issued them. A state license counter can see you before that envelope arrives, which is why the license rules come next, but keep the office-visit window in mind so the card itself is not delayed.

If you are not authorized to work, a number is available only when a federal law requires one for a federally funded benefit, inside or outside the United States, or when a state or local law requires one for public assistance while you live here legally. The card issued for that reason can read “NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT,” and you cannot use that number to take a job. The benefit agency has to give you an original letter on its letterhead, not a form letter or a photocopy, and that letter has to do all of the following.

Name you as the applicant.
State the nonwork reason a number is required.
Cite the law that requires the number.
Say you meet every agency requirement except having the number.
Include a contact name, a signature, and a phone number.

People who are not authorized to work and who need a taxpayer number, rather than a Social Security number, ask the IRS for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number on Form W-7. The IRS forms line is 1-800-829-3676. If a business asks for a Social Security number you are not allowed to use for work, ask whether it can identify you another way.

How a Driver’s License Differs From a REAL ID

You need a driver’s license to drive, and the state where you live issues it through its own motor vehicle agency. The papers, the tests, and the fee are set there, not by USCIS, so two people with the same Green Card can face different counters. If you will not drive, a state identification card from that same agency is the card people use day to day, and it faces the same airport test as a license.

You do not need a Social Security number to get a driver’s license, to register for school, to buy private health insurance, or to apply for school lunch programs or subsidized housing. If a clerk asks for the number and you do not have one yet, say so, because many services can identify you another way.

Since May 7, 2025, a state license or state ID that is not REAL ID compliant is no longer accepted at airport checkpoints. A U.S. passport still works for the flight, and so does a passport card, a DHS trusted traveler card, or an Enhanced Driver’s License. Look for a star on the state card, or the word Enhanced, if you want that card to be the one you show. The same rule covers certain federal facilities. A card that is legal for the road can still be the wrong card at the airport, so check the marking before a domestic flight.

Who Must Register With Selective Service?

Almost all male U.S. citizens and male immigrants who are 18 through 25 have to register. Check who must register with Selective Service if your status is anything other than a straightforward permanent-resident arrival, because a still-valid nonimmigrant visa changes the answer. Registration does not enlist you, and a man who is registered is not automatically inducted into the military.

The deadline: Register within 30 days of your 18th birthday, or within 30 days of entering the United States if you are already in this age range.
Age 26: Once you turn 26, you can no longer register.
A valid visa: Men on a current nonimmigrant visa do not register while that visa remains valid up until they turn 26.
A lapsed visa: Men whose nonimmigrant visa expired more than 30 days ago are required to register if they are still in this age range.
Residents and others: Permanent residents, refugees, asylees, parolees, and undocumented immigrants in this age range are required to register.

You can register on the Selective Service website or by calling 1-847-688-6888. If a letter asks you to register and you believe a current visa exempts you, send copies of the papers that show the visa is still valid. A license from the state does not take the place of this registration, and this registration does not issue the license.

What to Arrange Before a Dog Flies With You

Read the rules for bringing a dog into the country before you buy the ticket. CDC wrote them to keep dog rabies from being carried in, and they apply to a puppy, a service dog, and a dog that used to live in the United States and is only coming home. The split is where the dog has been and whether it was vaccinated.

Where the dog has been	What you need before entry
Only rabies-free or low-risk countries for the last 6 months	A CDC Dog Import Form receipt. Dogs on this path must still appear healthy, have a microchip, and be at least 6 months old.
Any high-risk country in the last 6 months, and the dog is vaccinated	The import form plus the rabies papers for that vaccination history. The Dog Importation Navigator on the CDC site matches the set to the countries on the record.
Any high-risk country in the last 6 months, and the dog is not vaccinated	The dog will not be allowed to enter the United States.

You also have to meet U.S. Department of Agriculture rules and the rules of the state you are entering. A dog imported to be resold has extra Agriculture Department requirements. CDC does not ask for a general health certificate for pets, but a state or the airline still might, so ask both before you fly. Cats and other animals are covered on CDC’s animal pages, and those pages are not the dog rules under a different name.

How Does Permanent Residence Hold Up When You Travel?

You keep lawful permanent resident status until you finish naturalization or until you lose or abandon that status. A final removal order from an immigration judge ends it. You can also abandon it by moving to another country with the intent to live there, by declaring yourself a “nonimmigrant” on a U.S. tax return, or by staying abroad so long that the trip no longer looks temporary.

The rules for travel outside the United States as a permanent resident let you take temporary trips. To leave, you use a passport from your country of citizenship, or a refugee travel document if that is what you hold. To come back after a temporary trip, you show a valid, unexpired Green Card. A Customs and Border Protection officer reviews that card and any other identity document you present, such as a passport or a state license, and decides whether you may enter.

Brief travel usually does not affect your status. The general guide is whether you have been outside the United States for more than a year. A shorter trip can still be treated as abandonment when the officer does not believe you meant to keep the United States as your permanent home. Family and community ties, a U.S. job, U.S. taxes filed as a resident, and other proof that you planned to return are the kinds of facts that officer can weigh.

Renewing or replacing a lost or expiring Green Card is its own USCIS request, separate from the address change. If the card will not be valid on the day you return, do not assume the address filing or the old card will get you through the port. The question section below covers the permit people use when they already know the trip will run long.

American Lifestyle Guide to English Lessons and Local Offices

U.S.A. Learns offers free online lessons for immigrants who want to build basic reading, writing, and speaking. That is the English resource on the USCIS settling page, and you can start it before a local class has an open seat. Social Security also provides free interpreters by phone and in a local office, so number and card business can be done in a language other than English. Ask for an interpreter when you call or when you reach the window.

The settling pages also point you to a section called About the United States for history and government, and they suggest volunteering where you live once the first filings are done. Community groups are a practical place to ask about housing lists, job leads, and school enrollment clinics, which the federal guide names without running the local program itself. Bring the same folder you used for Social Security: passport, immigration document, and proof of the address you just filed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Open a Bank Account Without a Social Security Number?

Many banks and credit companies ask for a Social Security number, and you generally don’t have to provide one if you don’t have one yet. Ask which other identification the bank will accept, such as your passport, and keep that request separate from the number an employer uses to report wages.

Do Women Have to Register for Selective Service?

Selective Service registration is written for men, and the agency describes the duty as applying to male citizens and male immigrants. A woman does not register under that rule. When a benefit depends on registration, the agency offering the benefit decides whether the requirement is met, not Selective Service.

What If a Trip Abroad Will Last More Than a Year?

Apply for a reentry permit on Form I-131 before you leave, while you are still in the United States. U.S. embassy guidance on keeping permanent residence describes that permit as normally valid for up to 24 months, and you do not file it after the long trip has already started.

Is a Temporary Driver’s License Enough at the Airport?

A temporary driver’s license is not an acceptable form of identification at a TSA checkpoint. Use the passport you traveled with, or the permanent state card that meets REAL ID rules, instead of the paper slip from the counter.

File the immigration address change during the week you move, even after the post office has accepted a forwarding order, and keep the confirmation with your passport. If a dog is on the same ticket, finish the CDC Dog Import Form before you reach the airport, because an unvaccinated dog from a high-risk country is refused entry.

Disclaimer: This article is an educational guide to everyday tasks after a move to the United States and is informational only. It is not legal, tax, or immigration advice, and it does not replace instructions from USCIS, the Social Security Administration, Selective Service, the CDC, TSA, or your state motor vehicle agency. Consult a qualified immigration attorney before you take a long trip abroad, change your status, or answer a notice you do not understand. Deadlines and document rules reflect the official sources reviewed for this guide and can change.