Part 3 of 31 Things Americans Should Think About Before Moving Abroad : Receiving Your U.S. Mail Abroad

Darien Wilson
Mar 31
2 min read

Updated: May 1

How do you receive your US mail if you've moved outside the United States?

I'm Darien, a US American who moved to the Netherlands in 2021, and this is Part 13 of 31 Things Americans Should Consider When Planning a Move Abroad. Today's topic is Your U.S. Mail as an American Abroad.

The U.S. mailing address: more than just a convenience

This may not be something you think about until after you've moved—but maintaining a U.S. mailing address is more important than you might realize. For many Americans living abroad, maintaining a U.S. address remains essential. You’ll need it for things like banking, taxes, credit cards, and receiving paper checks (because yes, the United States still does a lot of paper checks).

Who can receive your U.S. mail once you have moved abroad?

If you're a recent college graduate, you might be able to forward your mail to your parents. But if you’re older, that might not be an option. In that case, you’ll need to either:

Forward your mail to a friend or family member you trust to alert you when something important arrives
Or sign up for a virtual mail service

Why we chose a virtual mail service for receiving our U.S. mail abroad

We personally opted for a virtual mail service. (This isn’t an ad, so I’m not going to name which one.) But the service we chose scans our mail and sends us an image of each piece. From there, we can choose to have them discard it, forward it to us in the Netherlands, or in some cases—like when we receive a paper check—they can even deposit it for us.

This was one of those small but crucial logistics pieces that made our transition abroad smoother.

Pro tip: set up your U.S. mail forwarding before you move abroad

I strongly recommend getting your mail forwarding set up while you’re still in the United States. Trying to coordinate your mail forwarding after you’ve moved abroad—especially if you’re relying on calling your old post office—can cause major headaches.

Your US mailing address might not seem like a big deal at first, but trust me: receiving your U.S. mail after you've moved abroad is one of the lifelines you'll be glad you secured before you left.