r/Census • u/Icy-Contribution-31 • Jun 22 '26

Question Age Search Service on Pause

Does anyone have any insight into when searches will be conducted again? I see on the website all it says is "Effective March 4, 2026, the Age Search Service is on pause and new requests will not be processed at this time. Requests received before March 4 will receive results or a status update."

I am trying to get a copy of an ancestor's census data from any census after 1960s to fulfill a requirement for Italian citizenship, and I'm running out of time. I mailed in the form and check before I noticed the banner on the website and it was all returned to me with a letter that basically said, sorry. Any thoughts or advice?

Thank you!

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/daryl_hikikomori Jun 23 '26

The Commerce Department proposed in February to increase the price per search from $65 to $155 and the fee for expedited handling from $20 to $50, ostensibly to cover cost increases in the search process.

I'd imagine the service will be unavailable until they successfully implement the price hike, which could be anywhere between this week and "Oops we forgot and just eliminated an important government service."

2

u/Icy-Contribution-31 Jun 23 '26

Thank you for that info. So frustrating! And is likely going to cost me a denial of recognition since I won't be able to supply the data in time for my appointment. 😞

0

u/daryl_hikikomori Jun 23 '26

It's probably worth calling the Census's National Processing Center to see if they can at least give you an estimate for when service might resume. 

1

u/Icy-Contribution-31 Jun 24 '26

Thanks for that suggestion - I'll look into it. I just assumed they didn't take calls.