Two Alien Numbers?

[Saylin 1,605]

Back in August 2010, I got denied at the Trudeau Airport in Montreal. The officer there opened a file for me and assigned me an A#. He told me to use this number on all the forms I'd be filling out. So I did. On the NOA2, it lists this number above my name.

Now, I just picked up my visa today at DHL. I saw on the visa that there was a different number under Registration Number. It also has this different number on the sealed envelope as the Alien Registration Number.

Format of original A# given to me: A### - ### - ### (9 digits, not including the A)

New A# on visa: A######## (8 digits, not including the A)

And the two numbers are no where being the same. It's not like just one number is different, they're all completely off.

So, was this an error? Or was I supposed to get a new A# assigned to me after the interview? And who do I contact, if anybody? Should I mention this to the officer when I go through POE next week?

Thanks for any answers

[OBX 51]

Saylin, I'm not sure if you should have received a new number or not. It seems odd to me that a CBP officer could assign an A#, I would think they could only be assigned by USCIS, but I may be wrong. As far as the 8 digits on the visa, that is normal.. My A# on my green card is the same as the one on the visa in the passport with a "0" in front which makes it into a 9 digit number.

I would definitely bring it up at POE. Hopefully someone with more information will have more advice.

[Saylin 1,605]

Saylin, I'm not sure if you should have received a new number or not. It seems odd to me that a CBP officer could assign an A#, I would think they could only be assigned by USCIS, but I may be wrong. As far as the 8 digits on the visa, that is normal.. My A# on my green card is the same as the one on the visa in the passport with a "0" in front which makes it into a 9 digit number.

I would definitely bring it up at POE. Hopefully someone with more information will have more advice.

The officer at the airport was with immigration, so I don't know if that makes any difference.

I'll definitely bring it up at POE then. Hopefully this doesn't cause any problems.

[azsx 0]

Format of original A# given to me: A### - ### - ### (9 digits, not including the A)

New A# on visa: A######## (8 digits, not including the A)

Just a thought, perhaps these are not both Alien numbers since one has 8 digits and the other has 9 digits?

maybe the new one is number for the visa , which is something completely different?

Best of luck!

[Saylin 1,605]

Just a thought, perhaps these are not both Alien numbers since one has 8 digits and the other has 9 digits?

maybe the new one is number for the visa , which is something completely different?

Best of luck!

I thought that at first too, but on the paper that's attached to the sealed envelope, it has this same 8-digit number right beside the field that says "Alien Registration Number" and has an A at the beginning. So it definitely is an alien number.