Britain may be an island, but it has never been isolated from the rest of the world. Some of the most remarkable stories in your family history will come from your ancestors who arrived on our shores - or those who started new lives abroad. Discover these tales in stunning detail with millions of immigration and emigration records.
Naturalisation is a key step for any immigrant, as it officially makes them a citizen of their new country. Now you can discover whether your ancestors made this commitment to America, in our new naturalisation records from Florida, Utah and Delaware. We’ve also updated several of our other collections, as we continue to grow our mammoth range of US immigration records.
The story of British emigration to Australia is about far more than just convicts. Our new records let you discover your ancestors from all walks of life who sailed ‘down under’. New passenger lists and immigration registers for New South Wales, Western Australia and Tasmania join our existing millions of records to provide names, nationalities and arrival dates across the entire country.
Your ancestors’ travels were usually better recorded in the countries they arrived in, rather than those they departed. Select a destination to learn more about our records for that region:
UK & Ireland North America Australia & NZ Rest of the worldSince the 19th Century, people have arrived in the UK from all over the world, lured by our expanding cities and the increasing jobs they offered.
UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 England, Alien Arrivals, 1810-1811, 1826-1869 UK, Aliens Entry Books, 1794-1921Trace Jews fleeing Russia and Germany, West Indians finding new homes after World War II and millions of other arrivals over a century of British immigration. Each ship’s list provides passengers’ names, ages, origins and their final destinations. With over 16 million records to explore, you’ll often discover several members of a family arriving at different times.
Go back further to discover Irish famine refugees, plus thousands of other travellers from around the globe. These registers of non-British citizens provide names, arrival ports and dates, home countries and even occupations — so it’s often easy to distinguish between two people with the same name. See if you can spot ancestors who later settled into life on our shores.
Explore British immigration right back to the 18th century — when our arrivals included everyone from African slaves to Royalist émigrés from France. You can’t search for individual names, but these letters and other official documents give you a rare insight into Government policy and popular opinion through three centuries.
If you suspect an ancestor came from overseas, first check their birthplace in census records. Also look out for the abbreviation ‘BS’, standing for British subject, which means they were naturalised.
British travellers have been arriving in North America for more than 400 years — whether to grow the colonies, search for gold or just start a new life. Trace your American arrivals.
United States immigration records Canadian immigration recordsFrom 17th-century colonists to war brides in the 1940s, the British influence in the USA goes back generations. We have over 100 million records to help you trace your family’s American adventurers. Witness their departures in passenger lists, gain further details from naturalisation records, and follow their ongoing journeys with passport applications and other papers.
The British influx into Canada started with soldiers sent to hold the new colony from 1763, and has continued through child emigration schemes and confederation to the present day. Millions of these new arrivals are revealed in our records. Look out for collections dedicated to the Scottish and Irish emigrants who formed a huge part of the growing population.
British emigrants have embraced the long journey to Australia and New Zealand since the end of the 18th Century. Discover your family’s travellers down under.
Australian immigration records New Zealand immigration recordsFrom the arrival of Australia’s first convicts in 1788 to assisted migration after World War II, British arrivals were largely responsible for populating the entire nation. Our passenger lists, naturalisation certificates and transportation registers let you find out why your ancestors carried out such a mammoth journey, and often how they fared when they got there.
Britain took control of New Zealand in 1840, opening the floodgates to a wave of immigrants that continues to this day. Find out if your ancestors were among them, with our naturalisation records from 1843 right up to 1980. This extensive collection provides names, ages and birthplaces, plus crucially, each person’s new hometown.
If your ancestors settled abroad, they may well have married and had children, producing a new branch of your family tree in a foreign land. Trace the offspring of Australian emigrants using our national birth, marriage and death indexes and electoral rolls.
As technology and awareness developed, our ancestors set their sights ever wider across the globe. Find your family’s more adventurous emigrants.
European immigration recordsHistorically, Britain has had a stormy relationship with its European neighbours. But at times of peace, simple convenience has meant that many of our emigrants have ended up on their shores. We currently have extensive records for Germany and Sweden, and we’re always looking to add more countries.
Many of our European immigration records are in their native languages. If you don’t understand them, it’s useful to compare them to similar records in English — for example, put a German passenger list next to an English equivalent, and see if the columns match.
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