Every country runs its own postal code system, and the formats differ in length, characters and placement on the envelope. A U.S. ZIP code lookup cannot validate an international address, so the right approach is to identify the destination country and use its national postal operator's lookup.
Formats and official lookups
| Country | Format | Official lookup |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | A1A 1A1 | Canada Post · guide |
| United Kingdom | SW1A 1AA | Royal Mail |
| Mexico | 5 digits | Correos de México · guide |
| Brazil | 00000-000 | Correios · guide |
| Germany | 5 digits | Deutsche Post |
| Japan | 123-4567 | Japan Post |
| India | 6 digits | India Post |
| Australia | 4 digits | Australia Post |
| China | 6 digits | China Post · guide |
| South Korea | 5 digits | Korea Post · guide |
| Israel | 7 digits | Israel Post · guide |
Addressing international mail from the U.S.
Write the destination country's name in capital letters on the last line, place the postal code where that country expects it (before the city in most of Europe, after the city in Canada and the UK), and copy the code exactly as the recipient gave it. Do not remove letters or spaces to make it fit a numeric field.
Countries without postal codes
A few places do not use postal codes at all, including Hong Kong and Macau, and some small island nations. Forms that require a code often accept 00000 or the country's convention; ask the recipient or the carrier.
Terminology
Postcode, postal code, PIN, CEP, PLZ and código postal all refer to the same concept. Postal-code terms around the world lists them, and ZIP code vs. postal code explains the U.S. term.