Pakistan Emigration and Immigration

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Dark thin font green pin Version 4.png 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[edit | edit source]

For online records prior to the partition of India into Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India:'

Almanacs and Directories[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

  • 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[edit | edit source]

The British Library, India Office[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

The National Archives
Ruskin Avenue, Kew
Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU
England
Website
Guide: Immigration and Immigrants

Post-1962 Immigration Records[edit | edit source]

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