Alien Registration

Submitted by: HOST GFS CheriM@aol.com

 

Alien registration (co-written by Cheri Mello and Marian Smith of the DC INS) - If your ancestor did not become a U.S. citizen and was still alive in 1940, you may find WW II alien registration records a useful alternative to the naturalization records. Alien registration was simply a requirement imposed on any alien living in or arriving in the United States after June 1940. Many of those who registered subsequently naturalized.

The Alien Registration Act of 1940 (or the Smith Act) required all non-citizens 14 years or older to register at their local Post Office or Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) office beginning in June 1940. There were severe penalties for non-compliance. In the first year of the program, the INS registered many millions of resident aliens, many of whom had immigrated as early as the 1880s. In the case of these early arrivals, this may be the only record the INS has of that individual. At the same time, beginning June 1940, all immigrants arriving in the US had to perform Alien Registration when they applied to immigrate. This still continues today.

Alien Registration records for registrations from 1940-1944 were microfilmed by the INS for internal use only. INS FOIA (Freedom of Information Act office) makes "prints" from this microfilm in response to requests, and they call the copies "AR (Alien Registration) prints." They are also referred to as AR records (not to be confused with AR cards). Beginning in 1944, all Alien Registration records were to be filed in the immigrant's A-File. Thus one can get an Alien Registration record for an immigrant who came after 1944, but it probably won't be an "AR print" from the microfilm. These AR records have quite a bit of information, just like a Declaration of Intent for U.S. citizenship. Some records may be found in the INS' district offices (listed elsewhere), but since the INS is a large bureaucracy, it is beyond the scope of this article to explain every possibility. It is recommended that you send your request to the Washington address, because they are more familiar with genealogists' needs and are better able to locate genealogically useful information.

Some of the items found on an Alien Registration form are: names; date of birth; birth place; marital status; description; port of entry to U.S. and date; name of vessel; passenger, crew member, stowaway, other; residency; arrival date; how many years in the U.S.; occupation; memberships or activities in clubs, organizations, or societies; military in country, branch, dates; applied for citizenship papers or not, dates for 1st and 2nd papers; parents, spouse, children in the U.S. Then there is an affidavit with a right index finger print and signature of registrant.

To get this information, make your request on the INS' G-639 FOIA form (available from the INS, maybe your local FHC), or at: http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/forms/download/index.html. Ask for the Alien Registration as well as any other record related to your ancestor. You must provide at least the immigrant's full name, date of birth and place of birth on the G-639 form. Of course, the most helpful piece of information to the INS is your ancestor's alien registration number. Make sure you fill it in if you have it. Due to the commonality of Portuguese names, it sometimes becomes difficult to distinguish one immigrant from another. If you have checked the city directories and have your ancestors' address for 1940, it may be of help. Also, if your ancestor was born less than 100 years ago, it is necessary to enclose evidence of their death (i.e., a copy of the death certificate of copy of an obituary).

Mail the FOIA form to: INS, FOIA Officer, 425 I (the letter, not one) Street, NW, Washington, DC 20536. Make sure you ask for a MANUAL search. In 2-3 weeks on average, you should receive your receipt and INS FOIA case tracking number. It may be several months before receiving a response to your request (They have as many as 3,000-4,000 cases pending at a time).

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