Brazil Emigration and Immigration: Difference between revisions

There are some helpful records about Portuguese immigrants into Brazil. There are not many immigration records for Brazil prior to 1808.  

Once you have traced your family back to your immigrant ancestor, you must determine the city or town where the ancestor lived. Brazil has no nationwide index to birth, marriage, or death records. These records were kept locally.  

Ferenczi, Imre. ''International Migrations'', volume I: Statistics. Series: The American immigration collection. Series 2, vol. 1. New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1970. (FHL book 304.8 F379i)  

Most Brazilian emigrants left through the ports of Rio de Janeiro, Santos, and São Paulo. Records of departures are called passenger lists. The information in these lists varies over time but usually includes the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, and destinations. In addition, relationships and last residences or birthplaces may be given.  

Departure lists from La Havre, New Orleans, and New York were not preserved.  

Prior to 1755 the Portuguese sent prisoners, degredados (exiles) or indesejáveis (undesirables) to its colonies, and prior to 1808 the Portuguese limited immigration to Brazil to Portuguese nationals. After 1808, Brazil opened its ports to international commerce and began to encourage immigration.  

BRAZIL - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION

In the Arquivo Nacional (National Archive), in Rio de Janeiro, there is a large collection of immigration records on cards in nearly 30 drawers. These cards have information on Portuguese immigrants to Brazil. The National Archive in Brazil compiled a supplement volumes to this collection:  

For an address of the National Archives, in Rio de Janeiro, see [[Brazil Archives and Libraries]].  

Santos was the main port for the city of São Paulo. The original records of the Hospedaria de Imigrantes (Hostelry of Immigrants) from 1854 to 1885 in São Paulo are at the Arquivo da Secretaria da Promoção Social (Archive of the Secretary of Social Progress).  

Centro Histórico de Imigrante<br>Rua Visconde de Parnaíba, 1316 - Brás <br>03044-001 São Paulo, SP <br>BRASIL <br>Tel.: 01-55-292-1022 (Ramal 112)

The Family History Library has copies of the record of immigrants to the port of Salvador from 1839 to 1854. These records were filmed from original records in the Public Archive of the State of Bahia (Arquivo Público do Estado da Bahia). These can be found at the Family History Library under:  

In the "Historical Section" of the Bahia state archive there are also six volumes of passport records (passaportes e guias) from 1718 to 1822.  

Sometimes the best sources for information about your immigrant ancestor are found in the country he or she emigrated to. Many Brazilians migrated to Florida, New York, Illinois, California, Texas, Washington, and Utah. Emigration from Brazil has occurred mostly in the 20th century.  

Immigration and Naturalization Service <br>425 "I" Street NW <br>Washington, D.C. 20536 <br>Tel.: 1-800-375-5283&nbsp;&nbsp; 1-800-767-1833 (TTY)<br>e-mail: [mailto:uscis.webmaster@dhs.gov uscis.webmaster@dhs.gov]. <br>Website: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis  

People desiring to leave Brazil were required to obtain passports from the Federal Police (Polícia Federal) in each state capital.