How Do You Provide Proof of Residency?

Asking for proof of residency is a common way for institutions to verify identity. It is particularly a common practice by banks so that they not only verify your identity but also know your residential address. However, it can be used for anything that requires verifying your identity or needs proof of residency.

Regardless of why you need proof of residency, our article is here to walk you through it. If you’re wondering and asking yourself how to provide proof of residency, read on to get the answers you need. We will cover different methods for proving residency, so that everyone reading this article has multiple options.

How Do You Provide Proof of Residency? Proven Ways

Here are five proven ways, or rather documents that you can use as proof of residency.

However, note that if you were asked to provide a specific document as proof of residency, that’s what you should have. In such cases, the methods below won’t work unless the document you’re required to provide is the same as one of the documents below.

Utility Bills From Home

Any utility bill from your home – electricity, internet, gas, water – is enough as proof of residency. Since it has your address and name, utility bills are often the most convenient way of proving residency.

You can simply use the one you get at your door or print it out if you’re only getting them electronically. However, the utility bill you print out should be from your provider’s website or app. For retrieving them, you might need to have an online account in order to view and print out your utility bills if you’re not receiving them as physical copies.

Bank Statements (Credit Cards, Checking Accounts, etc.)

Just like utility bills, any bank statement that has your address and name on it will do the trick for helping you confirm your residency. Since banks are one of the highly reliable institutions, there will be no questions about their validity.

To get your bank statements, you can just download your monthly account statement that comes into your email address and print it out, or send it electronically to use as proof of residency. It is by far one of the easiest ways to prove residency.

Tax Documents

Another easy way to provide proof of residency is with tax documents. Most tax documents include your name and the address you lived at the time of filing, which will be enough to prove your residency.

However, when thinking about tax documents, most people have their tax return in mind. You don’t need to get your entire tax return just so you get proof of residency. Any tax document from the IRS or your state should be enough, such as a tax transcript.

How Do You Provide Proof of Residency for DMV?

For those who are asking how to provide proof of residency specifically for the Department of Motor Vehicles, here’s everything to know.

The Department of Motor Vehicles in your state typically has a list of accepted documents you can use as proof of residency. While many of the documents we covered above are included in pretty much all states, it is best to check your state rules for which documents you can bring as proof of residency.

For instance, some of the documents accepted for proof of residency in California include a home utility bill, medical documents, bank records, tax returns, insurance documents, and a car registration. Unless you’re asked to bring a specific document, any of the accepted documents should be enough to provide proof of residency for DMV.

How Do You Provide Proof of Residency? Verifying the Address of Others

We gave plenty of answers to how to provide proof of residency, but what if it’s the other way around and you’re the one who needs to verify someone’s address? In case it happens to be the case, you can take advantage of public records to run a property check to see if the address and the person match.

While there are many ways to do this, such as visiting the county records office, the easiest is running an address records check online. Websites like publicrecord.com scan public records across all states to verify the address. In addition, it brings up other information pulled from public records about individuals