My experience with the USCIS Genealogy program

UPDATE: This blog post has an update at the end.

My great-grandfather Hugh A. Thomson was born in Canada and emigrated to the United States in his early 20s. One of my earliest finds on Ancestry.com was an image from the US Naturalization Records Index:

Source Citation: US Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992, database and images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : downloaded 4 April 2014); entry for Hugh Albert THOMSON, birth date 21 Feb 1903; citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, D.C., Index to Naturalization in the U.S. District Court For The Northern District Of California, 1852 - ca. 1989, Microfilm: M1744, Roll: 151

At the time not knowing the difference then between an index and an original record, I added it to my tree as a citation of his birthdate, birthplace, and naturalization facts and went on my way.

Soon, though, I got curious. It seemed like I had so much information - a petition number, an alien registration number... could I find more? Web searching lead me to the US Citizenship and Immigration Service Genealogy program. The USCIS is responsible for keeping many federal immigration records between the years 1906 and 1956.  This includes naturalization certificates, petitions, alien registration files, and Visa files. There is some overlap with the holdings of the National Archives, and the USCIS holds only record copies of some records that NARA has originals for. However, I could not find Hugh's records in the NARA online search.

Due to privacy concerns the USCIS indexes are not searchable by the general public. The process they follow is that the public submits an index search request on an ancestor (if the ancestor's birth date is less than 100 years ago, they will also ask for proof of death). The fee for this service is $20 as of Apr 2014 and the search can be ordered and payed online. After about 3 months, the searcher will receive a letter in the mail with the list of results from the 5 kinds of files that USCIS stores. The searcher will log back in and order copies of the records, which range in price from $20 to $35 depending on if the record is microfilmed or hard copy.

If a researcher is sure that they have correct record numbers, such as a C-file number (which is the number at the top of the index card I show above) or an AR-number (the Alien Registration number at the bottom of the card), the researcher can skip the index search process and order the record directly. However, if the record cannot be found, there is no refund!

Of course, I had to make this process difficult in two ways: (1) I lost my index search result letter, and (2) I mis-typed the Alien Registration number into my index search result request, so I did not receive a confirmation of the existence of that file!

Thankfully, the USCIS Genealogy program has both an email address and a support phone number. I emailed them and after about 1 month received a response that included a scan of the letter. Considering the response I expected was "Tough tootie, give us another $20," I thought that sending a copy of the letter was very gracious and good customer service. I have sent them another email notifying them of my second screw-up so we will likely have to wait another month to see their reply. I will likely end up ordering the AR-file with the number I have.

In short, although the process is very slow and costs more than ordering vital records, I think that the USCIS Genealogy program can be a very valuable resource for people with recent immigrant ancestors. I have already ordered a copy of the certificate of naturalization (the original records of federal naturalization certificates are at the National Archives) and should have that in a few months. I will provide another update then.

UPDATE #1 16 Apr 2014: Just hear back from the USCIS Genealogy archivists and if they can find an Alien Registration record to match the number I sent them, they will include it in the record search I've already ordered.