Alien Number on a Green Card: Where to Find It and What It Means

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Where the alien number appears on a green card

The alien number on a green card is the cardholder’s Alien Registration Number, commonly shortened to A-Number.

On the current Permanent Resident Card specimen, the front has a field labeled USCIS#, followed by nine digits displayed in three groups.

Those digits are the A-Number; the absence of a printed A in that field does not make it a different identifier.

USCIS has used different card designs, so a familiar color or an exact position on an older sample is less useful than the field’s label.

The official samples include a photograph, name, birth date, category, and card-expiration information, which helps explain why several numbers can appear on the same document.

The number identifies immigration records, while Form I-551 is the document designated as evidence of registration for a lawful permanent resident.

The broader green card guide explains the relationship between the physical card and permanent-resident status.

The A prefix, shorter numbers, and leading zeros

An A-Number can appear with an A prefix in immigration correspondence and without that prefix in a USCIS Number field.

Older records can have shorter numbers: the Form N-600 instructions describe A-Numbers on cards as having seven to nine digits, depending on when the record was created.

For that form, a shorter number is padded with zeros at the beginning until it has nine digits.

The added zeros change the entry’s format; they are not permission to change the underlying sequence of digits.

The same distinction appears in the immigrant-fee instructions, which explain how a shorter A-Number is formatted for that payment process.

A receiving form or online system may already supply the A prefix or may require numerals only, so its own instructions determine the entry format.

A missing prefix or omitted leading zeros can therefore explain a formatting difference between two displays of the same underlying number.

The card number and receipt number serve a different purpose

A Permanent Resident Card also carries a separate card or receipt identifier on the back.

This identifier has 13 characters: three letters followed by ten numbers.

It belongs to USCIS’s application or petition tracking system, rather than serving as the person’s A-Number.

USCIS’s SAVE tutorial groups the labels “Card Number” and “Form I-797 Receipt Number” together, so treating them as identifiers that can never overlap would be misleading.

A receipt number on a notice identifies the case associated with that notice, and a person’s different filings can involve different case identifiers.

The useful comparison is therefore the field being requested: A-Number for immigration-record identification, or card and receipt information for the relevant document or case.

Other identifiers that may appear in the same paperwork

The USCIS Online Account Number is separate from the A-Number, even when both appear in the same application.

Form I-90 instructions identify the online account profile and the Account Access Notice as places where that account number may be found.

A Department of State case ID is another identifier used in immigrant-visa and immigrant-fee paperwork.

On an immigrant visa, the A-Number is labeled “Registration Number,” while the DOS case information is labeled “IV Case Number.”

For immigrant-fee entry, USCIS instructs users to leave off the last two digits of the visa’s IV Case Number when entering the DOS case ID.

That suffix instruction concerns the DOS case ID, not a reason to shorten the A-Number.

An I-94 number identifies an arrival-departure record, and a Social Security number is also listed separately from the A-Number in USCIS verification materials.

Similar-looking numbers do not make these fields interchangeable.

When the card is unavailable or the numbers seem inconsistent

An A-Number may also appear on correspondence from DHS or USCIS, so the physical green card is not the only possible place to find it.

For people who went through immigrant-visa processing, the immigrant data summary, USCIS Immigrant Fee handout, and visa stamp are additional possible sources.

The immigrant-fee guidance directs someone who did not receive the data summary or fee handout with the visa packet to the embassy or consulate that issued the visa for a copy.

Formatting can explain a prefix or leading-zero difference, but it does not reconcile different underlying digits.

A discrepancy in the printed card, a mistake entered in an application, and a missing document are different problems, so an assumed number is not a reliable substitute for the underlying records.

USCIS benefit requests must follow the designated form instructions, and the signature certifies that the request and submitted evidence are true and correct.

A number copied into a form therefore needs to be the identifier requested, rather than whichever number is easiest to locate.

Correcting information printed on the card

Form I-90 is the application used to replace a Permanent Resident Card, including a card with incorrect information.

The filing basis matters because an error caused by DHS is treated differently from incorrect information that was not caused by DHS.

For a DHS-error filing, the I-90 instructions require the original card with the incorrect information, rather than a photocopy, and supporting proof of the correct information.

The federal fee rule provides no filing fee when a card was issued with incorrect information because of DHS error and the applicant requests its replacement.

That exemption does not establish that every mismatch between documents is a DHS error.

For incorrect biographical data not caused by DHS, the I-90 instructions direct the applicant to the separate name-or-biographical-information filing category.

A replacement-card application is also different from removing conditions on permanent residence; Form I-90 is not the petition for removing those conditions.

The green card renewal guide covers the separate questions of expiration, replacement, and conditional cards.

A private copy is different from a public sample

The card’s photograph, birth date, and immigration identifiers make an unredacted image a disclosure of personal information.

USCIS’s immigrant-fee guidance recommends keeping a copy of the fee handout or recording the A-Number and DOS case ID in a safe place.

For identification, the useful details are the field name, document type, and instructions for the receiving form; sharing a full personal card image is a different matter.

Sources

• 8 CFR Part 264 — Registration and replacement Permanent Resident Cards
• 8 CFR Part 103 — Submission and adjudication of benefit requests
• USCIS — Instructions for Form I-90
• USCIS — SAVE Tutorial, July 17, 2025
• USCIS — Finding an A-Number and Department of State case ID
• USCIS — Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card
• USCIS — Instructions for Form N-600
• 8 CFR Part 106 — USCIS fees and exemptions
• USCIS — Form I-9 acceptable documents and Permanent Resident Card specimens