The Future of USCIS Records
Despite the public interest in these records, and their value to genealogical and historical research, future access to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) records remains in jeopardy. The genealogical community must continue to work to protect the records by taking action.
Contact your Representative and Senators:
The most effective comments are custom-written, provide unique commentary and detail your experience with the USCIS Genealogy Program. We recommend addressing the themes of access, transparency and efficiency. Be specific! Here are just a few ideas. See more suggestions at the Records Not Revenue website.
- Tell your Representative and Senators about the specific problems you have had with the USCIS Genealogy Program. If the problems remain unresolved, request help.
- Fee-paying customers bear the brunt of USCIS’ mismanagement of the Genealogy Program. Congress must provide oversight the USCIS Genealogy Program and Congress must request that USCIS develop a plan to improve. Ask your Representative and Senators if they will take action to make this happen.
- Ask your Representative and Senators to support increased funding for the National Archives. NARA requires an annual uplift of an additional $100 million through FY2029 in order to overcome decades of near-stagnant funding, which prevents the agency from keeping pace with the exponential growth of archival holdings and the government’s transition to digital records. NARA needs this infusion of funding in order to address critical challenges and accomplish its statutory mission-critical obligations. Read more at Records Not Revenue website.
- Have you waited more than a year for your USCIS Genealogy Program documents? Contact the Constituent Services team in your Representative’s and Senators’ offices and communicate to them the timeline, and the issues. Be as specific as possible.
Important Links:
Records Not Revenue campaigns and encourages grassroots action to push for historical records maintained by USCIS to transfer custody to the National Archives and Records Administration. Records, Not Revenue is a non-partisan project coordinated by an ad hoc group of genealogists, historians, and records access advocates. It doesn’t take any donations and all efforts are volunteer-driven. Records Not Revenue is co-led by founder Rich Venezia, alongside Renée Carl and Marian Smith.
Reclaim the Records identifies important genealogical records sets that ought to be in the public domain but which are restricted by government archives, libraries, or agencies. It files Freedom of Information and Open Data requests to have the data released back into the public domain. If the requests are not fulfilled, Reclaim the Records will file suit to obtain them.
Without oversight from Congress, and without additional funding for the National Archives, the records of our immigrant ancestors will continue to sit behind paywalls, out of reach, and some of them will eventually be destroyed.
Thanks to Rich Venezia, Renée K. Carl, Alec Ferretti, and Marian Smith
