Tutorial: Immigration and Passport Records
Introduction
Immigration and Naturalization/Citizenship
Immigration and naturalization/citizenship records are kept by:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
However, only historical records are available, mainly for geneological research purposes. See the USCIS' Geneology page for details on requesting those records.
The National Archive also has searchable online databases of some historical immigration records.
Passenger records of ships carrying immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island in New York from 1892 to 1924 also are available in a searchable online database at the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation website.
Citizenship records are filed in courts and are not available online. See the National Archive section on naturalization records on how to research those records.
Passports
Passport records are kept by the U.S. State Department.
However, the records are not publicly available. For more information, see the Obtain Copies of Passport Records page at the State Department's website.
About this Tutorial
This tutorial was originally written by Paul Grabowicz for students in his Computer Assisted Reporting class, and later modified for public use.
Republishing Policy
This content may not be republished in print or digital form without express written permission from KDMC. Please see our Content Redistribution Policy at kdmc.berkeley.edu/license.