U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on February 21, 2017, that new immigrants now can create a USCIS online account when they pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee. The account allows new immigrants to track the status of their green cards, receive electronic notifications and case updates, and change and update their mailing addresses.

Although anyone can pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee on behalf of a new immigrant, only the immigrant can create a USCIS online account. To create the account, a user must verify his or her identity by correctly answering questions about personal immigration history. USCIS recommends having documents such as a passport, immigrant visa, and copies of the visa application and immigrant petition available for reference when answering the questions. Those who cannot answer the questions correctly may schedule a free appointment to visit a local USCIS office to have their identity verified in person after they arrive in the United States.

Creating a USCIS online account is voluntary, and those who choose not to create an account can still track the status of their green card and other cases with Case Status Online.

The USCIS announcement is at https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/new-immigrants-can-now-create-uscis-online-account-when-paying-uscis-immigrant-fee. Case Status Online is at https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do. A free appointment to verify identity can be scheduled at https://my.uscis.gov/appointment. A change-of-address tool is at https://egov.uscis.gov/coa/displayCOAForm.do.