During World War I, the Federal Government required that all German aliens living in the United States register with the US Marshal's Office in an effort to track of potential security threats during the war. Men born in Germany, and some in neighboring countries like Austria, were required to fill out a registration form providing their date and place of birth, names of relatives living in both American and in Europe, if any relatives were fighting in the war, when and where they had arrived in the United States, and if they had applied for US citizenship. The men were also required to provide a current photograph and fingerprints. Later, this registration program was expanded to include women born in Germany or married to German citizens. This caused some confusion for women in the US who had married men from Germany and did not realize they needed to register as German aliens. At the time, Federal laws stated that at the time of marriage, a woman relenquished her own citizenship and became a citizen of her husband's country. Individuals who registered were issued an identification card and were required to seek permission before they moved out of the district in which they were registered.

Following the end of WWI, Congress ordered these registration forms to be destroyed and because of this, examples survive for only a few states. In Wyoming, the registration forms for German men were destroyed, but a list of male registrants and the forms for the women survived.