tariqbutt

Im on a H1B and I understand that I need to update my address with USCIS by electronically filing Form AR-11, Change of Address. https://egov.uscis.gov/coa/displayCOAForm.do

In this case the address that USCIS has is a home that belongs to my family here in the US.
I have moved 20 minutes away to a place I am renting.
I would prefer to receive mail at my family home since its a permanent address. However I am not staying there since I am staying the place I am renting.
Do I need to change my address with USCIS? The site seems to say " Help us ensure that you receive any notices or documents without delay. "
Certainly if its just about receiving documents then the address they have on file already is a better address since its permanent. However Im worried there is some other legal requirement that the address they have on file is the place I am actually staying?
As I said both addresses are very near each other.

S Folinsky

The Alien Registration provisions were created in the 1940 Immigration Act and were carried over into the 1952 Immigration & Nationality Act at Section 265. As you may note, there was a major amendment in 1981. The implementing regulation is quite sparse. There is an excellent article on line discussing the provisions. (I like that the article cites a book of which I was an initial co-author, but I digress).

In the FWIW department, the 1986 Legalization (commonly known as Amnesty) program had a requirement that non-immigrant visa entrants must have violated status on or before January 1, 1982 and that violation was “known to the government.” The initial implementation guidelines regulation required that “the government” meant the former Immigration & Naturalization Service. Now, there were a fair number of F-1 students who had worked illegally said earnings reported to the IRS. (No employer sanctions back then and SSN’s were easy to come by). So, former INS knew the non-citizen was not allowed to work and IRS knew they were working. Litigation ensued and the regulation was changed in short order.

The I-20 forms given to students back then specifically listed the requirement of quarterly registration. There were numerous PSA’s each January to submit the required annual registrations to the Post Office. But the quarterly registration requirement was basically unknown. So, some students claimed their failure to register was a violation known to the government. Didn’t work.

S Folinsky

I found the case on known to the government on failure to make the address report — Matter of H— .

Yes, it is a violation of status, but one can’t impute to the government knowledge that they don’t have documents from the fact that they don’t have documents. Understand? I do not.