From roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Mon May 22 09:43:16 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k4MFhGjb028873; Mon, 22 May 2006 09:43:16 -0600 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l.rootsweb.com [66.43.16.22]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k4MFhALc010523 for ; Mon, 22 May 2006 09:43:10 -0600 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l [127.0.0.1]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k4MD8ZFI011995 for ; Mon, 22 May 2006 09:08:35 -0400 Received: (from roots-in@localhost) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.8/Submit) id k4MD8ZXF011994 for roots-approved@rootsweb.com; Mon, 22 May 2006 09:08:35 -0400 Received: from lists5.rootsweb.com (lists5.rootsweb.com [66.43.27.41]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with SMTP id k4M2hsFI010351 for ; Sun, 21 May 2006 22:43:55 -0400 Received: (from slist@localhost) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) id k4M5IJ5m002938 for roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com; Sun, 21 May 2006 23:18:19 -0600 X-Envelope-From: joanparker@intergate.com Sun May 21 23:18:19 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k4M5IJjb002859; Sun, 21 May 2006 23:18:19 -0600 Received: from smtp9.trip.net (smtp9.trip.net [216.139.64.9]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k4M5IDC3020284; Sun, 21 May 2006 23:18:18 -0600 Received: from acer2e68c49b20 (129-pool1.ras13.floca.alerondial.net [206.148.124.129]) by smtp9.trip.net (8.13.6/8.13.6) with SMTP id k4M5I0WP051925; Mon, 22 May 2006 00:18:11 -0500 (CDT) Message-ID: <029b01c67d5f$1b002fc0$8b7c94ce@acer2e68c49b20> From: "Joan Parker" To: "RootsG" Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 01:16:18 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2869 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2869 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.56 on 216.139.64.8 Subject: [ROOTS-L] USCIS To Provide Fee-for-Service Genealogy Program Sender: roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com As published in with permission granted: Nu? What's New? The E-zine of Jewish Genealogy Gary Mokotoff, Editor Volume 7, Number 6 | April 23, 2006 USCIS To Provide Fee-for-Service Genealogy Program After years of prodding by the genealogical community, it appears the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS-formerly called the Immigration and Naturalization Service) will provide a method for expediting inquiries from genealogists for records of their ancestors. There is a notice in the Federal Register to establish a Genealogy Program to process requests for historical records of deceased persons. USCIS claims it receives 10,000 requests a year for the current service which is provided free under the Freedom of Information Act. Because of lack of manpower and facilities, it can take more than a year for a request to be processed. The genealogical community suggested that USCIS provide an alternate fee-for-service method to expedite requests. Such a service was started a few years ago by the Social Security Administration to process requests of their historical records. Under the proposed rules, genealogical inquiries will no longer be free of charge. If a request is made under the Freedom of Information Act and USCIS determines it is a genealogical inquiry, the request will be returned to the sender who will be asked to resubmit using the Genealogy Program. The following record groups will be part of the Genealogy Program: * Naturalization Certificate Files (C-Files), which are records from September 27, 1906 to April 1, 1956, relating to U.S. naturalizations and the issuance of evidence of naturalization or citizenship. * Forms AR-2, which are Alien Registration Forms on microfilm that were completed by all aliens age 14 and older who resided in or entered the United States between August 1, 1940, and March 31, 1944. These forms contain identification information, as well as information regarding the alien's employment and arrival to the United States. * Visa Files, which are records from July 1, 1924, to March 31, 1944 containing the arrival information of immigrants admitted for permanent residence from July 1, 1924 to March 31, 1944, under the Immigration Act of 1924. * Registry Files, which are records from March 2, 1929, to March 31, 1944, containing arrival information of immigrants who entered the United States prior to July 1, 1924, and for whom no arrival records could later be found. * A-Files, which are case files on individuals containing all immigration records created or consolidated from April 1, 1944, to the present. Only files containing documents dated prior to May 1, 1951, will be available. Submitters will have to show proof of death of the individual such as a death certificate or obituary notice. If the year of birth was more than 100 years ago, no proof of death will be required. These records often include information about the children of the individual, and these children may still be living; therefore, USCIS states that "the Genealogy Program will not release personal information concerning a subject's children." USCIS envisions the service to be in two stages. Initially the submitter would request an index search to determine what information is available. Then there would be a request for the actual documents. USCIS has budgeted about $1 million per year for the service, and they expect such a level of expense could handle the anticipated 25,000 inquiries per year. This would make break even $40 per inquiry; however, the agency already has in its budget the cost of processing current inquiries. In the Federal Register the agency is recommending that the cost for an index search and for requests for an actual document be between $16-45 for each file of microfilm being searched and $26-55 for retrieval of textual files. Interested persons can comment on the proposed regulation. Information on how to respond to the proposal, as well as a 12-page description of the new plan, is located at the Federal Register site http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/E6-5947.pdf