Saudi Arabia Emigration and Immigration

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Emigration and Immigration

Online Sources

• 1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 at Ancestry - index & images ($)
• 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at Findmypast - index & images ($)
• 1946-1971 Free Access: Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971 Ancestry, free. Index and images. Passenger lists of immigrants leaving Germany and other European ports and airports between 1946-1971. The majority of the immigrants listed in this collection are displaced persons - Holocaust survivors, former concentration camp inmates and Nazi forced laborers, as well as refugees from Central and Eastern European countries and some non-European countries.

British Overseas Subjects

• British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Saudi Arabia , index & images ($)
• British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Saudi Arabia , index & images ($)
• British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials at Findmypast - index & images ($)

Finding the Town of Origin in Saudi Arabia

If you are using emigration/immigration records to find the name of your ancestors' town in Saudi Arabia, see Saudi Arabia Finding Town of Origin for additional research strategies.

Saudi Arabia Emigration and Immigration

"Emigration" means moving out of a country. "Immigration" means moving into a country.
Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigrating) or arriving (immigrating) in the country. These sources may be passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, or records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, destinations, and places of origin or birthplaces. Sometimes they also show family groups.

Immigration into Saudi Arabia

• Saudi Arabia's Central Department of Statistics & Information estimated the foreign population at the end of 2014 at 33% (10.1 million). The CIA Factbook estimated that as of 2013 foreign nationals living in Saudi Arabia made up about 21% of the population. Other sources report differing estimates.
  • Indian: 1.5 million
  • Pakistani: 1.3 million
  • Egyptian: 900,000
  • Yemeni: 800,000
  • Bangladeshi: 400,000
  • Filipino: 500,000
  • Jordanian/Palestinian: 260,000
  • Indonesian: 250,000
  • Sri Lankan: 350,000
  • Sudanese: 250,000
  • Syrian: 100,000
  • Turkish: 80,000
• There are around 100,000 Westerners in Saudi Arabia, most of whom live in compounds or gated communities.

Emigration From Saudi Arabia

• As the Saudi population grows and oil export revenues stagnate, pressure for "Saudization" (the replacement of foreign workers with Saudis) has grown, and the Saudi government hopes to decrease the number of foreign nationals in the country.
• Saudi Arabia expelled 800,000 Yemenis in 1990 and 1991 and has built a Saudi–Yemen barrier.
• In November 2013, Saudi Arabia expelled thousands of illegal Ethiopian residents from the Kingdom.
• Over 500,000 undocumented migrant workers — mostly from Somalia, Ethiopia, and Yemen — have been detained and deported since 2013.

Saudi Americans

• According to the census of 2000, 7,419 people of Saudi origin were living in the United States. In 2015, according to the American Community Survey, 96,783 Saudi-born people were living in United States.
• The first Saudis who settled in the United States were personal ambassadors of the Saudi Arabia Embassy in Washington, D.C., in the mid-1940s.
• After World War II, many Saudi students began to emigrate to the United States to study in its universities. However, in the 60's, when the universities of Saudi Arabia began to work, the number of Saudi students abroad started to drop.
• In the 1990 census, Saudi Arabians reported living in 44 of the 50 of United States. The greatest number, 517, resided in California. There were five additional states that reported over 200 Saudi Arabians: Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia.
• There are a variety of reasons why so few Saudi Arabians chose to permanently live to the United States. Among these were the wealth of Saudi Arabia, the religious faith and pride of Saudis who found it difficult to maintain an Islamic lifestyle in the United States, and a lack of factors motivating citizens to leave Saudi Arabia.
• Political dissent and dissatisfaction with the restrictions of living in an orthodox Muslim society were among the factors that encouraged migration.

Saudi Australians

• There are thousands of Saudis living in Australia; they can be found in all major urban centres including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane;;; and make up a substantial representation in the Arab Australian community.
• A significant number of Saudis are international students; each year, hundreds of Saudi students choose to study in Australian universities under the King Abdullah Scholarship Program. In 2010, their number was estimated at 10,000.
• Some Saudi Australians came from Saudi Arabia as refugees; their families or the authorities wanted to persecute or murder them. The exact number of refugees emerging from Saudi Arabia are unknown. What is known is that the majority of those fleeing Saudi Arabia are women.
• The number of Saudi Arabians who currently reside in Australia is estimated at 14,214: 10,519 by birth and 3,696 by ancestry. Despite Australia’s immigration law changes that took place in the 1970s, Saudi Arabian immigration to Australia did not see a spike until the early 21st Century. According data from the Australian census, 70% of Saudi Arabian immigration to Australia took place between 2006 and 2015. Of these migrants, a majority of them stay for a temporary period of time, usually for study or work purposes, and return to Saudi Arabia with a qualification or work experience.

Saudi Canadians

• According to the 2011 Census there were 7,955 Canadians who claimed Saudi ancestry.
• Until August 2018, there were over 16,000 Saudi students on government scholarships in Canada. There were more than 15,000 Saudi students in Canada in 2007, including 800 resident physicians and specialists who provided care to the Canadian population. In 2015, Saudi Arabian students represented 3% of total foreign students in Canada. Official figures provided by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Bureau in Canada (SACB) indicated that in 2014 there were 16,000 Saudi scholarship students in Canada and 1,000 medical trainees.

Records of Emigrants in Their Destination Nations

One option is to look for records about the ancestor in the country of destination, the country they immigrated into. See links to Wiki articles about immigration records for major destination countries below. Additional Wiki articles for other destinations can be found at Category:Emigration and Immigration Records.

• United States Emigration and Immigration
• Canada Emigration and Immigration
• Australia Emigration and Immigration