You are not stuck, and you do not need to close your mailbox. This is the single most common question we get from customers living abroad, and there is almost always a document that works.
What USPS actually requires
Form 1583 requires two IDs for each adult on the mailbox:
A photo ID — proves who you are.
An address ID — shows the physical street address where you actually live. It cannot be a PO Box or a mailbox address, and it cannot be your US Global Mail address.
Both must be current and unexpired.
If you live abroad
For the photo ID, a US and foreign passport is accepted and is what most expat customers use.
For the address ID, this is where customers get stuck — a non-US driver's licence is not accepted as a photo ID, but documents showing your foreign residential address are generally workable. Accepted address documents include:
Lease or rental agreement
Mortgage statement or deed
Vehicle registration
Home or vehicle insurance policy
Voter registration card
If none of these is in your name — you rent informally, you live with family, your housing is in a spouse's name, or you travel full time — do not cancel your account and do not ignore the notice. Reply to your Form 1583 email and tell us your country of residence and what documents you do hold. We review these case by case and have options that are not on the standard list.
What happens if you do nothing
You have 30 days from the date we request the update. After that your mailbox goes on USPS Compliance Hold and newly arriving mail is quarantined. After a further 30 days, quarantined mail is returned to sender and additional recipients are removed from the account. Acting before your deadline avoids all of this.