This is a brief guide to help you find records of an immigrant to the UK. Records about foreigners coming during the past 600 years to live in the UK were created by various government departments at different times. They are held in a range of record series, but there is no composite index of names. Many records of immigration have been destroyed.
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What do I need to know before I start?
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Try to find out:
- the date and place of arrival in the UK
- the country of origin
- the means of travel to the UK
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What records can I see online?
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Certificates of alien arrivals and returns and papers (1836-1869)
Search and download certificates of alien arrivals (HO 2) and returns and papers (HO 3) on ancestry.co.uk (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.). The records can be searched by name of alien, date and port of arrival and country/place of origin.
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Aliens' entry books (1794-1921)
Browse aliens' entry books, 1794-1921, including indexes to certificates of alien arrivals (HO 5/25-28) on ancestry.co.uk (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.).
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Aliens registration cards (1876-1991)
Search a sample of aliens registration cards in MEPO 35 on our website (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.).
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Incoming passenger lists (1878-1960)
Search incoming passenger lists from BT 26 on Ancestry.co.uk (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.) for people arriving by sea from countries outside Europe and the Mediterranean area.
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Non-parochial registers (1567-1858)
Search non-parochial registers in RG 4 on BMDregisters.co.uk (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.) for records of births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials of refugees kept by the French, Dutch, German and Swiss churches for various periods between 1567 and 1858.
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What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?
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Naturalisation case papers (1789-1934)
Search the Catalogue in HO 1, HO 45 and HO 144 by last name (surname) and nat* for naturalisation case papers.
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Naturalisation case papers (1934-c.1968)
Search the Catalogue (HO 405) by last name for naturalisation case papers. HO 405 only contains names beginning with the letters A-N. Those for surnames starting O-Z are still held by the Home Office. The documents are subject to 100 year closure (although access can be requested under the Freedom of Information Act) and only about 40% of applications in this seriesa grouping of records held by The National Archives, based on common function or subject have survived.
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To access these records you will either need to visit us, commission research (£there will be a charge) or, where you can identify a specific record referencea unique set of letters and numbers identifying a document in The National Archives, order a copy (£there will be a charge).
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What records can I find in other archives and organisations?
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Records held locally
Search the Access to Archives (A2A) and National Register of Archives (NRA) databases to find records held in local archives.
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What other resources will help me find information?
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Books
Read Migration Records by Roger Kershaw (The National Archives, 2009).
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Websites
Look at the 'Tracing your roots' section of the Moving Here website.
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Passengers
Naturalised Britons
Tracing living people