No.
Most arrivals have a file somewhere, but it may not be at NARA's Pacific Region
in San Bruno. Any number of actions could have resulted in the person's file being
shipped to some other INS district office. From there, the file may have
been transferred
to another NARA regional archive (http://www.archives.gov/locations/regional-archives.html), or
it may still reside with the INS (http://www.ins.gov). This might have happened
if the person became a citizen or re-entered the country through another port, for
instance.
For a good description of what an adventure it can be to find a case file, see Neil
Thomsen's article, "No Such Sun Yat-Sen: An Archival Success Story," in Chinese
America: History and Perspectives, Journal of the Chinese Historical Society of
America, volume 11, 1997.
Search for case numbers now.
Learn More About the NARA Files. Find out what's in a case file and how to
do a search.
Start a search. Search for case numbers now.
Make an appointment. To see the records at the NARA office, it is best to
make an appointment by calling (650) 238-3501 or sending an e-mail to
sanbruno.archives@nara.gov.
Volunteer to help. NARA has thousands of case files that need to be indexe
so that they can be searched. If you would like to volunteer to assist with this
public service project, contact the archives at (650) 238-3501 or send an e-mail
to sanbruno.archives@nara.gov.
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