Today, there are over 8 million American expats living overseas. Many are adventurous people who traveled a lot, and found new places that felt like home. What started out as brief trips quickly became unexpected (yet welcome) permanent changes.
Starting over in a new country can be exhilarating, but it comes with several challenges. For example, if you want to keep American subscriptions going, you need an address in the US. And if you can’t borrow your family members’ details, then you might be out of luck.
Luckily, there are international mail forwarding services you can use to solve this problem. What are they, and how do they work? Read on to find out.
What Are International Mail Forwarding Services?
International mail forwarding services are exactly what you think they are. A company receives your mail, then they pass it onto you, regardless of where you’re located. You could be in the next state over or halfway across the world!
Can You Get Packages Forwarded Too?
Yes, you can definitely have your packages forwarded too.
That means if you find an excellent deal in the US that you’d pay significantly more for overseas, then it’s worth it to have it passed on to you through this service. This is especially true when you consider how affordable it is.
How Do International Mail Forwarding Services Work?
International mail forwarding works by assigning you a virtual mailbox. The business will have multiple physical addresses you can choose from; for example, we at Business Anywhere have addresses in the states of Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
You can then use this address when you fill out forms or order packages. Because it’s a real location, your mail will be safely sent to this place, and the company’s workers will collect it.
Scanning and Uploading
After the mail’s sorted, the employees will scan and upload your mail. Typically, it’ll take 3 days from the receiving to the upload date. But this can vary depending on how busy the location is.
You’ll be able to see these documents through the virtual mailbox dashboard. You can decide if you want them to open the mail already, or forward it to you. Otherwise, they can archive, shred, or recycle these documents for you.
The Benefits of Using Mail Forwarding Services
The main benefit of using these services is you won’t have to ask your friends and family to use their addresses. Not only can this inconvenience them, but it can also cause a rift in your relationships if your mail arrives in bad shape, or worse yet, never reaches you.
What other benefits can you get from a mail forwarding service?
Privacy
Because you’re using a virtual mailbox, you won’t have to provide your actual address. This means your personal mailing address won’t be made public, nor will it be privy to other parties besides the mail forwarding company, which will take your privacy seriously.
Reliability
Your loved ones are busy with their own lives, so it may take them a while to send out your mail. When you want your things promptly, it’s better to have a professional service on the job. They’ll send your mail out in both a timely and secure manner.
Access to Local Things
Are you missing American things and can’t stand to pay the marked-up prices abroad? Then having a virtual mailbox gives you access to local things.
The price you’re paying for the mail forwarding services will save you money in comparison to those high prices.
Peace of Mind
Virtual mailbox businesses know how to handle mail professionally. You can travel anywhere you want in the world and have peace of mind knowing that you won’t miss out on your important letters and packages.
How to Set Up Mail Forwarding for an International Address
As we’ve just mentioned, you need to first sign up for a virtual mailbox to enable international mail forwarding.
Here are the steps you need to take to create an account with Business Anywhere.
Pick Your Virtual Mailbox’s Location
If you only need mail forwarding for pleasure, then it won’t matter too much which state you pick.
However, if you run a company and need an American address for it, then you’ll want to research business income tax rates, as they’ll vary from state to state. It may be worth your time and money to speak to a legal and/or financial professional to understand the pros and cons of your available choices.
Choose the Right Plan
Living abroad can stretch your finances, so you don’t want to pay for superfluous services if you don’t need them. Thankfully, mail forwarding companies will have several affordable options available.
At Business Anywhere, the main difference between our plans is the number of recipients attached to the accounts. Our plans range from $20 to $65 a month.
Take Care of the Postal Authorization Form
Opening someone else’s mail without permission is a federal crime, so you need to give the company official authorization. You can do this through the postal authorization form, which needs to be notarized.
Set Up Mail Forwarding
Once everything’s squared away, you can start using your account.
While you can go through each piece of mail individually, you can also set up automatic mail forwarding so you won’t have to worry about anything. It’s up to you which works best.
Do note that we at Business Anywhere will ensure no junk mail makes it to you overseas. This may give you peace of mind to have everything automatically forwarded.
Get Started on International Mail Forwarding Today
If you’ve been living overseas and getting frustrated with your American mail, then relax. If you get international mail forwarding, then you won’t have to deal with the hassle of borrowing someone’s address and having them send you your mail.
Instead, by getting an affordable virtual mailbox, you’ll have a much easier time. Forwarding mail internationally will be a cinch, and there’s nothing you need to do to receive it in a timely fashion.
Make your life easier by getting international mailbox service. Sign up with Business Anywhere now!
