Pakistan Emigration and Immigration
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Prior to 1947, Pakistan was part of British India. For emigration and immigration information, history, and linnks to records prior to 1947, go to India Emigration and Immigration. |
Online Records For India Including Pakistan
For online records prior to the partition of India into Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India:
- Families in British India Society database
- Immigrant Ancestors Project
- 1676-1917 French Overseas National Archives, India, 1676-1917, index.
- 1702-1830 Records relating to Europeans in India, 1702-1830, images
- 1740-1948 Bonds and agreements for overseas civil servants, 1740-1948, images
- 1746-1939 UK, Registers of Employees of the East India Company and the India Office, 1746-1939 at Ancestry ($), index and images.
- 1749-1857 Applications and petitions for employment in the India Company's overseas civil service, 1749-1857, images
- 1801-1871 Naturalisation case papers 1801-1871, index and images. Individuals applying to become British citizens between 1801 and 1871.
- 1810-1811, 1826-1869 England, Alien Arrivals, 1810-1811, 1826-1869 at Ancestry ($), index and images.
- 1807-1812 List of passengers proceeding from St. Helena to England, 1807-1812 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only. Includes passengers passing through St. Helena from India and China to England.
- 1860-1872 Indian immigration into Natal, 1860-1872 at FamilySearch Catalog; index & images
- 1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 at Ancestry ($), index.
- 1879-1916 Indian immigration passes, 1879-1916 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only
- 1879-1919 Plantation register of Indian immigrants, 1879-1919 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only
- 1879-1916 Indian emigration to Fiji 1879-1916
- 1879-1916 Indian Indentured Labour, 1879 – 1916 The introduction Indian Indentured Labour was an important chapter in Fiji’s development. Over a period of 37 years (1875 – 1916), 87 ships brought over 60,538 labourers to work on local plantations.
- 1890-1947 India, civil registration of births and deaths of British citizens
- 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
- 1899-1922 Register of deaths of Indian immigration (by plantation), 1899-1922 at FamilySearch Catalog; index & images
- 1904-1914 Germany, Bremen Passenger Departure Lists, 1904-1914 at MyHeritage; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of India
Almanacs and Directories
At the back of the Bombay Calendar and Almanac and the Madras Almanac, there are lists of shipping departures from India to various ports in England. The lists include the name of the British passengers and notes the presence of a native servant. However, they do not usually give the name of the servant. Occasionally free native passengers may be named. Published lists of passages to and from India are also included in the Bengal Directory of 1815-59.
- 1813 HathiTrust Digital Library; 1815 tamildigitallibrary.in; 1832 1834 1839 all HathiTrust DL; 1839 Google Books.
Partition of India
- Following the partition of India, massive population exchanges occurred between the two newly formed nations, spanning several months. Based on the 1951 census, immediately after the partition 7.226 million Muslims migrated from India to Pakistan, while 7.249 million Hindus and Sikhs moved from Pakistan to India. Partition of India
Offices and Archives to Contact
The British Library, India Office
Asian and African Studies enquiries
The British Library, India Office
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7873
Fax: +44 (0)20 7412 7641
They offer a remote Ecclesiastical Search Service and Certified Copies for enquirers who cannot find required information on this database, and those who are unable to visit our reading room.
Use this website to search:
- 300,000 births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials in the India Office Records
- biographical notes from a variety of sources
- for mainly British and European people in India c.1600-1949
- for people in other countries connected with the history of the British in India
The information included in the India Office Family History Search website is taken from a card index hitherto available only at the British Library. The card index was compiled by members of staff at the India Office Records from the mid-1970s onwards to meet the growing interest in genealogy. Users should note that probably less than 10% of the biographical sources available in the India Office Records was incorporated into the index, although future additions to this website are planned. As the biographical information included in this website is only a small part of the total available in the archives, users may need to search elsewhere in the records – see India Office Records: Family History Sources.
Passport Records
Duplicate identity certificates of natives of India proceeding to Europe 1900-17 (when their issue ceased) and duplicate passports from 1907 were sent to the British Library, India Office. Identity certificates 1900-1917 and passports for 1907-15 are at the British Library under reference L/P and J6. The duplicate passports for 1916-31 appear to have been destroyed.
National Archives, Kew
The National Archives
Ruskin Avenue, Kew
Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU
England
Website
Guide: Immigration and Immigrants
Post-1962 Immigration Records
Some case files of the Immigration Appellate Authorities are held at Kew in Lord Chancellor's Department record series LCO 42 (1971-97). There are 875 files, most of them subject to closure periods ranging from 30 to as much as 75 years. Many of the files contain photographs. A Commonwealth citizen who wanted to work and settle in the United Kingdom had to obtain a Ministry of Labour Voucher. Applications for Employment Vouchers are in record series LAB 42. The series consists of vouchers that were not used, canceled or rejected, and the reasons given for the ruling under the Commonwealth Immigrants Acts of 1962 and 1968. The applications sometimes used the original voucher and are an excellent source for family historians. Normally they contain:
- Original letters from the applicant to the Ministry of Labour
- Correspondence from the Department of Employment to the applicant
- Original application forms, which contain name of the applicant, date of birth, occupation, number of passport, special qualifications, and details about previous service in the armed forces
- Photographs of the applicant
Emigration From Pakistan
- From 1842 to 1857, a small number of immigrants from Punjab, Sindh and Kashmir began arriving in the British Isles as employees of the British East India Company, typically as lashkars and sailors in British port cities.
- After the establishment of the British Empire in 1857, Baloch and Pashtuns along with Punjabis, Sindhis and Kashmiris continued coming to Britain as seamen, traders, students, domestic workers, cricketers, political officials and visitors. A small number of them settled in the region.
- Between 1860 and 1930, camel caravans worked in Outback Australia which included Pashtun, Punjabi, Baloch and Sindhi men as well as others from Kashmir.
- By 1900, Punjabis and Pashtuns began migrating to other parts of the British Empire. Many were veterans of the British Army, but included a small migrant population who were legally considered British subjects. Pashtun migrants opted for the British Trucial States (now the United Arab Emirates), where the British used their subjects as valuable human resource in running the administration.
- British Columbia became a destination for many Punjabi migrants as agents of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Hudson's Bay Company were guaranteeing jobs for them between 1902 and 1905. However, many Punjabi migrants returned due to racism and curtailing migration of non-whites by the Canadian government.
- Others sought opportunities by moving to the United States, particularly Yuba City, California. Poor wages and working conditions convinced Punjabi workers to pool their resources, lease land and grow their own crops, thereby establishing themselves in the newly budding farming economy of northern California.
- Many people from modern Pakistan migrated and settled in Malaysia which was also part of the British Empire. The Malays and Pakistanis share strong Muslim identity. At the time of Malaysia's independence under the Federation of Malaya Independence Act 1957, there were more than two hundred thousand Pakistanis residing in Malaysia. Many elite Malay families have at least one grandparent that was Pakistani. Diplomats, Judges, Legislators, and other government cadres include people with recognized Pakistani-Malay bloodlines.
- By 1971, no more than 900,000 Pakistanis lived abroad with the majority residing in the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. In 1959, small numbers of Pakistanis were found to be working in Bahrain, Kuwait and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf.
- The first mass migration of Pakistanis began in 1965 during the construction of Mangla Dam in Azad Jammu & Kashmir. Over 280 villages around Mirpur and Dadyal were submerged, which lead to the displacement of over 110,000 people from the region. During the same period, the British government were actively seeking people from abroad to work in industrial towns in north-west England who were suffering from worker shortages. Thus many worker permits for Britain were awarded to the displaced population of Mirpur who were eligible for work. Close to 50,000 Pakistanis from Mirpur emigrated to Northern England between 1965 and 1970.
- During the 1970s and 80s, there was a rising wave of international migration to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or Libya. The majority of migrants were young males who would seek work abroad while families would remain back in Pakistan.
- During the 1960s and 1970s, the remaining Pakistani Jewish community of 2000 began emigrating to Israel and settled in Ramla.
- Today over 7.6 million Pakistanis live abroad, with an estimated 4 million Pakistanis in the Persian Gulf region. The expatriate labor force in the Persian Gulf has, however, followed what might be called a "circulating work force" pattern. Workers come in, work for a few years during which they periodically visit Pakistan for short or long breaks, and finally return permanently.