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immigration
immigration · card A

A-File

An A-File is the immigration case file kept under a person's A-number, the government's main file on an alien from April 1, 1944 on.

Before 1944 an immigrant might have a visa file, an AR-2 and a C-File in separate places. A-Files brought such papers into one folder, which can hold visas, photographs, applications, affidavits and letters, some dating back to the person's birth.

Older immigrants have an A-File only if their case reopened after 1944, for example to replace a document. Files for people born long ago are being moved to the National Archives at Kansas City and San Francisco and can be searched by name in the NARA catalog.

As seen in a recordA-File at the National Archives, opened 1946
A-5672103. Maria Santos, born 1895, Azores; arrived New Bedford, 1921; application to replace a lost document, 1946
Sources
How to cite this page

Daily Ancestor. "A-File." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/immigration/a-file. Last checked 2026-10-03.

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immigrationAA-numberPersonal number given to each registered alienimmigrationAAlien registration1940s federal record of every noncitizenimmigrationCC-FileFederal copy file of a 1906 to 1956 naturalizationimmigrationVVisa file1924 to 1944 arrival file with visa and photo
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