Office of International Services

J-1 Change of Address

Address Notification Requirement

Under U.S. immigration regulations, all non-immigrants in J-1 are required to report their U.S. local residential address to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. All address reporting is done through the student's school and/or immigration sponsor.

Continuing Students

If you are a continuing F-1 student and you change your residential address, you are required to notify the Office of the Registrar of any change, within 10 days of the change becoming effective.

When reporting your new residential address, you must report your "physical" or residential address. If you use a P.O. box and cannot or do not want to receive mail at your "physical address," report your physical address to the Office of International Services. Upon receiving your new address information, TC will electronically notify the Department of Homeland Security of the change within 21 days, as required by law.

You should make all address changes directly to the Office of the Registrar, but you should also notify the Office of International Services so that we may confirm the address update has been made and entered into your immigration records.

Also please note that TC now makes official notifications through your CUNIX email account (e.g., abc123@columbia.edu). If you prefer to receive your emmail through another private or personal account, please be sure to activate your message forwarding options on your CUNIX account.  

Students in Campus Housing

Students who are in campus housing are not required to notify the OIS or the Registrar personally when moving into a campus housing address. The Office of Residential Services will notify by the OIS and the Registrar directly when you move into your campus housing assignment and/or if you change your assignments. However, if you move out of campus housing to an off-campus unit, you should notify the Registrar of the change, in accordance with the instructions above.

Students on Post-Completion Academic Practical Training

If you have completed your studies at TC but are engaged in post-completion Academic Training, please notify the Office of International Services directly via e-mail at tcintl@tc.columbia.edu. Also notify us of any changes to your contact e-mail address, so that we may send you information and updates as necessary.