Certificate of arrival

After the 1906 law, a person who arrived after June 29, 1906 could not naturalize until the government found his arrival record. Clerks searched the passenger lists and sent the court a certificate of arrival, which is often filed with the declaration or petition.

From 1926 on, clerks also noted the check on the passenger list itself, in the occupation column: a district number, a file number, a date and C/A. No C/A means the record differed too much to certify. When no record could be found at all, the Registry Act of 1929 offered a way to create one.