Alien / Immigration / Naturalization websites
Don’t let the titles fool you
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A guide to Interpreting Passenger List Annotations – ever wonder what those typed numbers on a passenger list meant - Detained, Held for Special Inquiry, Citizenship? Learn more… You’ll also find information about Passenger Lists, Finding Your Ancestral Town, Naturalization Records, Archives, Holocaust Research and more by clicking on Passenger Lists section of the JewishGen FAQ line found on this page. The information found on this site is informative for all whom are researching their immigrant ancestors.
https://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/Manifests/
1940 Immigration Act required all non US citizen’s, 14 years and up, to report to the post office to be registered and fingerprinted. Parents / guardians were also responsible to register their child within 30 days of turning 14. https://loveman.sdsu.edu/docs/1940AlienRegistrationAct.pdf
U.S. Index to Alien Case Files, 1940-2003 – https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2540918 For immigrants born before 1909. This item also found on Ancestry, starting with the year 1944. Provides: name, place and date of birth, arrival date and place, and registration number. To order a copy of a record and learn the ‘how tos’: https://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/aliens (Ancestry provides address in the ‘About’ section).
U.S., Index to Alien Case Files, 1944-2003 (For immigrants born before 1909) -- https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62493/ (This item also found on FamilySearch). Provides: name, place and date of birth, arrival date and place, registration number. These files can be ordered. The address is listed within the ‘About’ section for this item in Ancestry. It important to read the ‘About’ portion of this collection.
U.S., Alien Draft Registration, Selected States, 1940-1946 (currently Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas) -- https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2498/ -- about four pages worth of golden information; such as, name, serial number, place and date of birth, marital status, current residency, personal description, citizen of, declaration filed at, date, and registration number, arrival in the U.S. and date; military service and other relatives who served, family relationships, and much more.
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Note 1: If an alien files a ‘DSS 301’ form (Relief from Military Service and Training), he would be forever barred from obtaining U.S. citizenship.
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Note 2: A ‘DSS 304’ form (this form asks or certifies if one is fit for service in the military) could have a person barred from U.S. Citizenship.
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Note 3: ‘304a’ form (Statement of U.S. Citizens of Japanese Ancestry) was required to be filled out by male U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry. Information on this form provides: voter status, marital status, wife’s ancestry, names and addresses of relatives in the U.S. and Japan. Lots of information on this form. Again, please read the ‘About’ section of these collections.
U.S. Application for Seaman’s Protection Certificates, 1916-1940 (Served as a passport) -- https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61257/ -- Provides name, picture, place and date of birth, father’s place of birth, personal description, fingerprints, and more.
California, U.S., Chinese Arrival Case Files Index, 1884-1940 -- https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61228/ Provides: name, age, place and date of birth, arrival date, case number and ship. (Looks like ship may stand for the ‘from’ place; such as, CHINA). You’ll also find in-coming U.S. born persons of Chinese ancestry on this list. I also saw listed folks born in Korea and Hawaii, so think: Asian. And yes, read the ‘About’ section for this collection. (Also think, 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act – read more in the ‘About’ Section.
California, San Francisco, Immigration Office Special Inquiry Records, 1910-1941 -
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2299374
California, San Francisco, WWI Enemy Alien Registration Affidavit, 1918 -- https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1878523 -- As the sites states: “Registration Affidavits of people from counties at war with the United States.”. This source / record is a gold mine of information. Provides: name, maiden name, residency, place and date of birth, names of children and birth dates, names of parents and places of birth, names of siblings, picture of person, description of person, fingerprints. Note: THIS APPLIED ALSO TO U.S. BORN CITIZEN’S (WOMEN) WHO LOST THEIR CITIZENSHIP THROUGH MARRIAGE to a person of non U.S. citizenship. Check out Evaline Taylor Weyrauch whose husband was a German citizen. Just type ‘Taylor’ in the ‘Last Name’ box, she’s the first person listed.
U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s (updated annually). https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7486/ Yup, read the ‘About’ section of this item.
United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records – https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/United_States_Immigration_Online_Genealogy_Records
US Immigration Passenger Arrival Records – https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/US_Immigration_Passenger_Arrival_Records
Find the U.S. Immigration Ports Your Ancestors Used –
https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/find-the-u-s-immigration-ports-your-ancestors-used
Holocaust survivors and Victims Database – Find items such as Dutch Survivors, Persons who died in Muhldorf, Jewish survivors from the Netherlands and much more.
Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database
Immigrant Ancestors Project / Discover Your Ancestors (Look to the left to see selections) -
Naturalization & Immigration Records: Step 4: Common Problems – “Finding information about women in naturalization records…”.
https://libguides.mnhs.org/naturalization/s4
Naturalization Records – “Naturalization is the process by which an alien becomes an American citizen”. This is an informative site – be sure to check out the left margin of the page and the lower portion of page.
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Naturalization Terms and Acronyms
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Naturalization_Terms_and_Acronyms
Passenger Search (Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation, Inc)
https://heritage.statueofliberty.org/passenger
When Saying “I Do” Meant Giving Up Your U.S. Citizenship – Learn more why women lost their citizenship due to getting married. (And what was later required to get it back). https://www.archives.gov/files/publications/prologue/2014/spring/citizenship.pdf