The Postman Sometimes Comes Twice

The postman was very nice to me in the last two days. He gave me an envelope with four obituaries and one envelope from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Whoopee! I know you are too polite to ask, “Terry, how much did all of this largess cost you?” But it’s okay. Go ahead - ask me. ASK ME! A buck twenty cents is how much it cost me. That’s $1.20 for all of you specific types. 

The obituaries came from the Special Collections Division of the Akron-Summit County Public Library, which charges a $1.00 processing fee plus $.05 per copy. The payment is already in the mail and on its way. Thank you, Special Collections Division! 

Today, I received the package from the USCIS. I’ve looked through it twice and there was no charge. Back in August, I challenged myself to do “7 Requests, 7 Days,” mainly because I am a devout masochist. This was Day 2 of my self-challenge marathon. I used the Freedom of Information Act to request the complete immigration file for each of my great grandparents, Emma and Leo Schrader. Emma and Leo, who immigrated to this country from Germany in 1906, never became citizens. When World War I and World War II broke out, they were considered Enemy Aliens. 

The majority of registrations for World War I are no longer in existence, but there are some states, such as Kansas, whose records still exist. NARA has compiled a list of 5928 files, digitized them, and allowed access to them through ARC.

In today’s mail was Emma’s file. It is eight pages long. I made the request on August 5 of last year. On August 13, a new genealogical service went into effect at the USCIS. The new format charges $20.00 to do an index search. You now must have a valid USCIS file number before you can request a file. The file itself now costs an additional $20 or $35 depending on the type. You must pay in advance, and if you request the file without a valid USCIS file number they will refuse to do the search and they will not refund your money. (If you already have a valid number, which luckily I did, you can skip the index search and save yourself twenty bucks.) 

The date stamp for my request was August 19, so I wondered if I would get the request back, telling me I needed to go through the correct procedure. Fortunately, at least in the case of Emma, I did not, and instead of paying $20 or $35 dollars, I got mine free! (This helps dampen slightly my pain at having to pay NARA $75 for an ancestor’s civil war pension packet. No, I am still not ready to let that go.)

Below I have scanned all eight pages I received from the USCIS. You can decide for yourself, if you want to go through the process. To read more about the new genealogy program offered by the USCIS, you can click this link.

 

Until Next Time - Happy Ancestral Digging!

© 24 May 2009, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Update on USCIS Genealogy Program

Today is the first day for using the online fee for service program at the US Citizenship and Immigration Service. Actually, online may be a little of a misnomer as you still must make your Genealogy Requests via mail. 

An index search for an ancestor will cost you $20.00 and the form to make such a request will be Form G-1041 available on the website. The USCIS will look through a variety of indices and will list all that pertain to your ancestor. You can fill the form out online but you will need to print it, as you cannot save it to your computer.

If your ancestor’s birth date is less than 100 years prior to the date you make the request, you must attach proof of death. Payment must accompany each request. If you already have a valid USCIS file number, you may skip the index search and make a record copy request.

Again, payment must be sent in with your request. Note: There will be NO refunds, should you submit invalid or non-existent file number.

The fee is $20 when taken from a microfilm copy and $35.00 when taken from an existing hard copy. Below are the types of records available.

1. Naturalization Certificate Files (C-Files) from September 27, 1906 to April 1, 1956 

2. Alien Registration Forms from August 1, 1940 to March 31, 1944 

3. Visa Files from July1, 1924 to March 31, 1944 

4. Registry Files from March 2, 1929 to March 31, 1944 

5. Alien Files (A-files) numbered below 8 million and documents therein dated prior to May 1, 1951.

To make a genealogy request via mail you will use Form G-1041A. Both Form G -1041 and Form G -1041A should be mailed to the address below for processing. 

 USCIS Genealogy Program

 PO Box 805925 

Chicago, IL 60680-4120

Go to the USCIS website for complete details on this new service. No word on how long you can expect the process to take. No word either, on the status of my request. My hunch – it’s in limbo.

© 13 August 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Sorry, My Moron Filter Slipped

Occasionally, the “moron” filter in my brain slips and I have a major dumb attack. (Oh yes, it happens. Ask my spouse, or my children, or my boss, or, well you get the idea.) I’d tell you how my “fame” has made me all narcissistic and self-centered but wait, that approach was recently used.

Ditto if I’d tell you that nobody is beating me up more than I am beating myself. (Gees, politicians are making all of us sound disingenuous,) I have no real excuse or explanation for my little error, except to say some things tend to slip right past me. Okay, maybe a lot of things slip right past me. Last week at the start of my 7 Days, 7 Requests efforts, I wrote about sending for the Alien Registration Form of my great grandparents. Well, and this has been out there on the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Service) website since at least June, starting tomorrow, August 13, the USCIS will offer a fee-for-service program in which family historians can request copies of a variety of immigration and naturalization records online including, wait for it, Alien Registration Forms. 

Now the USCIS is not necessarily the easiest site to navigate, so I can possibly be forgiven for not catching this soon to be service notice, but Juliana Smith of Ancestry’s “24-7 Family History Circle” reported this on August 1, BEFORE, my brilliant brainstorm. 

Juliana Smith’s blog is one that I have in my Google Reader, and I read it faithfully, except apparently I missed that one. My only excuse is that August 1 happens to be the day that I spent a mind numbing 7 hours playing Klutz paper dolls with my favorite 8 year old granddaughter (as opposed to my favorite 13 year old granddaughter who prefers shopping to paper doll playing). 

It took me several days to recover. I still wouldn’t have caught it except that Juliana did another post on August 10 entitled, “Ten Places to Find Immigrant Origins,” which mentioned among other things, the new online program by USCIS. The post is filled with lots of good information that I think many of you can use. I know I sure could have used it.

I’m guessing that my own little request will end in one of three ways. 

1. Nothing will happen. I mean literally nothing, and I will be all like “dum de dum,” waiting for information that never arrives. This is the worst-case scenario.

2. I will get my nifty little envelopes back with the federal speak version of “Idiot! Do this over and do it the correct way!”

3. I will get my information but it will take me a whole lot longer than any of you using the new online system, at which point, feel free to tell me how fast you received your information. Go ahead; twist the knife in my heart. 

I will keep you posted as to which of the three scenarios turns out to be the winner. Now, I’ll just go somewhere and hide my head in shame. Hey, maybe I can blame my error on a wide stance. What, that excuse has been used, too.

© 12 August 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder