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Address Updates

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Immigration regulations require all visa holders to report any change of address or risk violating their visa status. It is your responsibility to maintain this information in the proper online location so that it is current in SEVIS records.

Note these general requirements — which are your responsibility — regardless of your visa type:

  • You are required to report your change of address in the U.S. within 10 days of moving.
  • Your address cannot be a P.O. Box, a department address, or a non-U.S. address at any time.

Additional visa status-specific requirements are included below.

F-1 Students with Pending OPT

See Change of Address While OPT Application is Pending for details on maintaining your current address with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) when awaiting approval of your Optional Practical Training (OPT) application. 

F-1 Students with Approved OPT and STEM OPT

When your OPT is approved and active, SEVIS directly emails you instructions for setting up an account through the Student Exchange Visitors Program (SEVP) portal. Once you set up your account, you update your physical and mailing address as well as your phone number directly in the portal. Again, you must update this information within 10 days of the changes directly into the SEVP portal. 

For more information on updating your information, see the Update User Profile within the SEVP portal help webpages.

J-1 Students (including on Academic Training) and J-2 Dependents

You must enter your U.S. residence address update into the SEVIS (U.S.) address field in Axess for them to be sent (by Bechtel) to SEVIS. You must also maintain your email address and phone number. 

If you are on Academic Training, note that Axess remains available to you even after graduation.

See Updating your SEVIS Address via Axess for instructions. 

J-1 (including those on Academic Training) and J-2 visa holders must update their address, email, and phone numbers within 10 days of the change within Axess.

J-1 Scholars

If you are a J-1 Scholar visa holder and your Stanford classification is:

  • Postdoc
  • Knight Fellow
  • Visiting Student Researcher


You must enter your U.S. residence address updates into the SEVIS (U.S.) address field in Axess for them to be sent (by Bechtel) to SEVIS. You must also maintain your email address and phone number. 

See Updating your SEVIS Address via Axess for instructions. 

All Other Stanford Affiliates

You do not have access to Axess, so you should report your updated address by filling out this web form.