What To Know About Alien Registration Files And Where To Find Them
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Have you heard of Alien Registration Files (AKA A-Files)? If not, and if you have an immigrant ancestor who was in the US in the 1940s and 1950s, you could be missing out on some great resources!
A really brief history of the beginning of alien registration
In 1940, The Smith Act, also known as the Alien Registration Act, passed, making it a crime to advocate for overthrowing the US government. It was created in response to fears that subversive groups and foreigners were trying to overthrow the government.
The Act required that every alien 14 years or older and who was staying in the US for 30 days or more had to register with the new Alien Registration Division of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
They had to report when they entered the US, what activities they had done in the US, and how long they planned to stay. They had to update the government [pdf link] every time they moved within five days AND check in every three months. If they didn’t register, they could be fined up to $1000 and/or go to jail for up to six months. If they didn’t update their address, they could be fined up to $100 and go to jail for up to 30 days.
Within a few months, over 4.7 million aliens had registered.
In 1944, individual files began to be created, consolidating different forms for an immigrant, organized by an alien registration number. Since then, over 60 million A-Files [pdf link] have been created. However, in the early days of the program, not every alien had a file and was only assigned a registration number.
If you don’t know when you family came to the US or if they became citizens, use a US census immigration worksheet to pull together all their immigration clues in one place.
What’s in A-Files
So, what is in Alien Registration Files and how can they help your genealogy?
In my {humble} experience, alien files can vary a lot by how many pages are in them, so what you can find from person to person can be different.
But, they all had to complete a form called the Alien Registration Form, or AR-2. This form asked about
Their name
What name they entered the US under
Maiden names
Their address
When and where they were born
A physical description
When and where they arrived and by what ship/transportation
How long they expected to live in the US
Their employer
What organizations they belonged to
Military service
If they applied for citizenship
If they have relatives in the US
You could also find
Changes of address
Photos
Alien registration receipt cards (like a Green Card)
Alien death reports
Affidavits
Naturalization papers
Letters
And more!
You can see why these files can be such a fabulous resource!
I hit the holy grail with my great grandmother’s A-File. This branch of my family is from Okinawa. I’ve been stuck at my great grandparents for this side since I started researching. Because my family’s records were lost in WWII bombing, I thought I’d never learn anything past my great grandparents.
But, lo and behold, my great grandmother listed her parents’ names on one of the forms!
And just as amazing, it had a photo of her! This is the first picture I have of her, so it was totally worth the wait and $40.
This may be as far back as I ever get for that branch, but I’m still grateful.
Two other great grandparents only had the form and basic correspondence, so I haven’t ordered the files yet.
How to order Alien Files
The records were all held at the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) until 2009, when an agreement was signed with the National Archives to transfer the files 100 years after the immigrant’s year of birth. Over 350,000 files have been transferred so far.
I have good news and sort of bad news about ordering A-Files.
The good news is that if your ancestor’s file is already at the National Archives, it’s a simple process that will cost you about $40 (at the time of writing this) to get a copy.
To see if your ancestor’s A-File has already transferred, you can search for them in the National Archives’ catalog. If it’s there, you’ll see a search result saying, “Alien Case File for …”. Then follow the directions on their profile page to get a copy.
The bad news is the USCIS is currently embroiled in a major controversy about raising its prices for these and other records. The fees are already pretty expensive and were set to go up anywhere from 146% to 492%, depending on the request.
Right now, it’ll cost about $65 to search for the file and another $65 for a copy. You can’t search the index yourself; it has to go through them. Soon, it could go up to $240 for a search and $385 to get a copy. Eeek!
If your ancestor’s file won’t go to the National Archives for a while and you want to get a copy, request one ASAP.
Be sure to confirm whether they had started the naturalization process and when they arrived because that will help you identify if a file would even exist for them.
Learn More
If you want to learn more about how immigration policy during this period affected your ancestors, check out these books.
