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Archiver > OHCUYAHO > 2001-03 > 0984247276


From: Tim Kane <>
Subject: [OHCUYAHO-L] Re: Alien Registration
Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 10:01:16 -0800
In-Reply-To: <200103101203.f2AC31g09662@lists5.rootsweb.com>


ABSOLUTELY, Alien Registration numbers are THE keys to all the immigration
and naturalization records of the individuals to whom they are
issued. When a person obtains an immigrant visa at a US Embassy overseas,
his/her INS file is started and given an A-number. This becomes the number
on their "Green Card." All their subsequent immigration and naturalization
records include and are filed under this number, including their annual
"alien registration." Until at least 1990 or so, every immigrant family
was required to register annually, in each January, updating their status,
residence data, job, etc. They may still have to. I don't recall when
this started, but INS can certainly let you know, or any immigration lawyer.

If you find an A-number on any records, that is literally a key to an
informational goldmine, IF you can get the records from INS. The person of
your inquiry must request them or they must be dead, which you've got to
prove. (I recently requested my grandfather's INS file, and had to present
his death certificate, even though, by their own records, he would have had
to have been 137 years old at the time of the request. Logic would suggest
he'd passed on, but INS doesn't use logic, only documentary evidence.)

If your new database has some records that include A-numbers, by all means
include them. They would be a God-sent for any researchers seeking info on
that individual.

Regards, Tim


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