Alien Registration Forms and the Flexoline Index Now Available at NARA
As of 17 May 2024, all World War II era Alien Registration records (AR-2 Forms) and their index transferred from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) custody to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Researchers can now adopt an easier and more efficient procedure to search the index to identify and request these records.
Records Not Revenue applauds this transfer, and credits advocacy efforts in pushing this to happen. The Alien Registration records (and their Flexoline index) are the first of the five record series serviced by the USCIS Genealogy Program to completely transfer to NARA. Prior to 17 May 2024, the only way to obtain an AR-2 Form was via the USCIS Genealogy Program, and no part of the Flexoline Index was public.
NARA received all the Alien Registration Forms in both microfilm and digital format (digitized from the microfilm). The forms date from August 1940 through March 1944 and are arranged by the alien registration number, or A-number.
Additionally, NARA received a copy of the entire Flexoline index database, which provides a name-index of the alien registration forms 1940 to 1944. The Flexoline also includes names of new immigrants who arrived from 1944 to 1955, whose alien registration document was filed in their new Alien File (A-File); and the Flexoline has the names and numbers of certain A-Files opened or reopened between 1944 and 1955.
NARA's Center for Electronic Records (CER) had to process the Flexoline index and the AR-2 digital images, and recreate a functional database -- as what they received from USCIS was not immediately usable. CER then established a public use version of the Flexoline index, which provides access to data on persons born more than 100 years ago. The public use version of Flexoline resides online as part of NARA's Access to Archival Databases (AAD) site. NARA offers a detailed FAQ to assist researchers in using the Flexoline, and additional Flexoline technical documents can be found on NARA AAD's Flexoline page.