Social Security Agency gave me a copy of SSN Application but USCIS can not find the immigrant
Hello, everyone!
I am looking for a person that entered into USA around 1976-1977 and, as far as I know, received USA citizenship around 1984. The person died about 10 years ago.
I have made a request to Social Security Agency to give me a copy of SSN Application through a FOIA request, and I received the copy. Information within the application corroborate with what I know about this person.
I have made a index search request to USCIS for indexes to historical records. In the request I have put all the information that I have (birth date, SSN, name at arriving into USA, name after receiving citizenship). Yesterday I have received an e-mail from USCIS that they could not locate the person. The USCIS message said:
"We completed a thorough search for records based on the information you provided. Unfortunately, we found no matching index reference. Our search included all variations of the subject’s name."
How is this possible?
Answers
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@Daniela8559 Did this person have a common surname? I don't have any experience dealing with the USCIS, but like any government agency I'm sure mistakes are made.
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@Daniela81808 As SerrraNola mentioned above, I also have no experience with the USCIS. You mentioned that this person you are looking for entered the USA around 1976-1977 and died about 10 years ago. Have you tried any of the FamilySearch Lab Experiments to search for your person's records?
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Thanks for your response. Yes, the surname was rather common. The response from USCIS was that they did not find the individual and my assumption now is that they didn't found him with the birthdate that I gave on the request form. Maybe the birthdate is not right.
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Many thanks for the tip, I will try FamilySearch Lab Experiments, I did not know about that section.
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To answer your original question regarding the USCIS, please reveiw the Immigration Act of 1990. This Act suggests that the USCIS' database began in 1990 which explains why it didn't find any records for you person who gained US Citizenship around 1984. This article also shows a partial history of the different legal entities that had stewardship of the records back to 1906.
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Thanks for reply. On the official USCIS Genealogy Program page, they stated that the following historical records are available:
Historical Record Series
The USCIS Genealogy Program is authorized to make five (5) series of the agency’s historical records available to requesters.
Immigrant Files, (A-Files) are the individual alien case files, which became the official file for all immigration records created or consolidated since April 1, 1944.
Alien Registration Forms (AR-2s)
Alien Registration Forms (Form AR-2) are copies of approximately 5.5 million Alien Registration Forms completed by all aliens age 14 and older, residing in or entering the United States between August 1, 1940 and March 31, 1944.
Naturalization Certificate Files (C-Files) are copies of records relating to all U.S. naturalizations in Federal, State, county, or municipal courts, overseas military naturalizations, replacement of old law naturalization certificates, and the issuance of Certificates of Citizenship in derivative, repatriation, and resumption cases.
Registry Files are records, which document the creation of immigrant arrival records for persons who entered the United States before July 1, 1924, and for whom no arrival record could later be found.
Visa Files are original arrival records of immigrants admitted for permanent residence under provisions of the Immigration Act of 1924.
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