Indexing Naturalization Certificates of Arrival - Instruction inconsistency
The note posted before the document opens says:
Do not mark the following forms as No, No Extractable Data:
Certificate of Arrival
Oath of Allegiance
Name Change Records
The Project Instructions in What to Index says:
Do not index cover pages, certificates of loyalty, certificates of arrival, affidavits of witnesses, or depositions. These images should be marked in Step 1: Images as No, No Extractable Data.
So do I index Certificates of Arrival?
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We appreciate you bringing this problem to our attention. The issue has been submitted for investigation. We will get back to you as soon as we have an answer. Thank you so much for your kindness and patience while this is being addressed.
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I heard back. "We should not be indexing certificate of arrivals. We went through our active projects and there is one that is needing to be updating, which we are updating. I apologize for the delay."
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A moderator needs to bring the discrepancy to the attention of the Project Manager.
In the meantime, I would index the Certificates of Arrival, especially since they have provided an example of how to index them.
I will tag @Maile L for some assistance on this one!
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Thank you.
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@MinnWisRoots I have never seen a Certificate of Admission in any naturalization forms either. I can't find one online, and don't believe such a form ever existed in the US system - maybe an arrival/departure form, maybe a certificate of admission to a university in order to receive a J-1 visa. But, I sure would like to see what they are talking about.
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So does this mean Certificates of Arrival ARE to be indexed?
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I have not heard back.
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I just keep sending them back because I don't have the answer on whether to index or not.
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The pop-up and instructions for Connecticut Nats show to index Certificates of Arrival among other things - including a certificate of admission.
- Index only the following 9 types of documents: certificates of arrival, declarations of intention, petitions for naturalization, oaths of allegiance, naturalization certificates, repatriation records, certificates of admission, name change records, and naturalization cards. In addition, index documents that are similar to these 9.
The project instructions and pop-up for Pennsylvania do not:
Index only the following 8 types of documents: declarations of intention, petitions for naturalization, oaths of allegiance, naturalization certificates, repatriation records, certificates of admission, name change records, and naturalization cards. In addition, index documents that are similar to these 8
- Do not index cover pages, certificates of loyalty, certificates of arrival, affidavits of witnesses, or depositions. These images should be marked in Step 1: Images as No, No Extractable Data.
P.S. (Certificates of Arrival are definitely similar and should be indexed since they often have the persons name variation when they entered the US). Why does it take so long to get answers?
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Image 1 is a COA layed on top of the Declaration of Intention. IF I do not index COA then image 1 should be marked NO, no extractable data. I would then index image 2 which is the Declaration of Intention. The previous indexer had used the visible information to complete entry regarding birth, place, etc. on image 1. I changed that to <blank> . If I do index image 1 what info should I index? Name, date (May 16, 1935) and can I use the place on the stamp? (New York, New York) and should I put a record number? Whew! Please advise.
https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/batch/92324475-bde8-43f1-8a24-0e02f517f74f
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Per @Maile L, we do not index COAs in this project. If I'm remembering, there was a Naturalization project earlier this year/late last year where COAs were indexed.
Since the COA is an overlay, the underlay, in this case, the DEC, is to not be indexed. Doesn't matter if it's a DEC or a date on an OOA, if there's an overlay, we don't index the underlay. This comes from confusion on a different Naturalization project last year where the over and overlay were indexed.
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There are currently no indexing batches available for either Pennsylvania or Connecticut at this time.
Currently available:
US, New York—Eastern District Naturalization Records, 1906–1957 [Part A] lists "Certificates of Admission," but does not show an example. I have not reviewed many of these and have not seen one yet.
US, Missouri—Naturalization Records, 1843–1991 [Part H],
does not list any certificates of this type. Most of the example forms are quite a bit different than the other states we have seen recently.
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I hope the reviewers get the word on this topic because as an indexer I just submitted a New York batch with
Certificate of Arrival marked as No extractable data. 🙄
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Per the current instructions you were correct. The Certificate of Arrival is NED. It is the Certificate of Admission that should be indexed.
The confusion started with the Pennsylvania Naturalization instructions. The Certificate of Arrival was initially indexed (complete with an example in the instructions), then it was changed to NNED in the subsequent parts and the Certificate of Admission was added in its place (with no example) creating confusion, because, as too often is the case, some indexers do not read the "What to Index instructions" and/or look at the examples, and some reviewers do not read the "What to look for" instructions.
Since every state has different forms that are being indexed, it's even more important that indexers and reviewers READ the instructions for each part of each state's naturalization project released (i.e., part A, B, C, etc.,) since the instructions may change as FamilySearch discovers errors, receives queries/feedback.
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Rules are dependent on the project. Each project has instruction on what should and should not be indexed. If the instructions contradict, please let us who which project has the issue by providing the name (such as US, New York—Eastern District Naturalization Records, 1906–1957 [Part A]) and the contradiction.
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