Portuguese-American Genealogy

"Passaportes" are Portuguese immigration documents that are much like American passenger records. These documents begin in the 1700s; although most are available starting in the late 1800s to early 1900s. The passaportes contain the emigrant's name, age, occupation, birthplace, date of application, destination, and parents' names. Passaportes are found in both district and national archives. The Family History Library has filmed some of Madeira's passaportes and the Azores government is currently digitizing its passaportes.

This is a privately maintained website that lists known ships that transported Portuguese immigrants from Portugal to the United States. The actual passenger lists are kept by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

NARA holds immigration records for arrivals to the United States from foreign ports between approximately 1820 and 1982. The records are arranged by Port of Arrival. They do not have passenger lists available online, however there are listings of the microfilm available for each port.

Naturalization is the process by which an alien becomes an American citizen. These records can provide a researcher with information such as a person's birth date and location, occupation, immigration year, marital status and spouse information, witnesses' names and addresses, and more.

A-Files are a rich source of biographical information in that they contain relatively modern immigration documents, all in one file. Since the early 20th century the United States collected increasing amounts of information from immigrants and A-Files from mid-century hold a wealth of data, including visas, photographs, applications, affidavits, correspondence, and more.