"WHERE DO ALL THE OLD FILES GO?
THE NATIONAL RECORDS CENTER (NRC)"
November 04, 2004 Lee's Summit, MO USA

An additional meeting and walk through tour was held at this fascinating facility with Center Director Diane Cejka and staff.

The National Records Center ("NRC") opened in November 1999 and is part of USCIS and the National Archives. NRC houses and manages some 20 million immigration files, considered "inactive", in a centralized location in the heart of middle America. The facility is literally built within a bomb-protected limestome cave, 65 feet underground, and utilizes air-quality and temperature-maintenance technology to preserve these files in original conditions, some dating back to 1920s.

NRC comprises a quarter million square feet spread over four extremely large "stack rooms", and stores some 4000 miles of files over 103 miles of shelves. The filing method is not alphabetical. Files are "bar-coded", and "matched" to a particular shelf in the stack rooms. This "shelf filing" system has proved to be efficient and cost-effective.

Thus, NRC essentially serves as extra "storage space" for the local District Offices and Service Centers. The facility stores not only paper files, but also files in CD format. NRC performs the equally important task of file information retrieval for those offices, when necessary. Typically, NRC processes some 8000 monthly requests for file information retrieval, with a turnaround of 3 days (standard request), and 24 hours (expedite request).

NRC currently employs about 40% government staff (approximately 180), and about 60% contractor staff (approximately 250).

Gary Bala
USA Immigration Attorney
Pennsylvania USA

BONUS PHOTO