Belgium Emigration and Immigration

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The FamilySearch moderator for Belgium is Daniel Jones.

Online Records[edit | edit source]

These sources cover multiple countries.

Finding the Town of Origin in Belgium[edit | edit source]

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

Belgium Emigration and Immigration[edit | edit source]

"Emigration" means moving out of a country. "Immigration" means moving into a country. (See Immigration into Belgium.)
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.

Emigration[edit | edit source]

Dark thin font green pin Version 4.png One option is to look for records about the ancestor in the country of destination, the country they immigrated into. See links to immigration records for major destination countries below.

Belgian Immigration Records by Country of Destination[edit | edit source]

United States[edit | edit source]

United States Online Sources[edit | edit source]

United States Background[edit | edit source]

Walloons[edit | edit source]

Walloons are a Romance ethnic group native to Belgium, principally its southern region of Wallonia.




Immigration into Belgium[edit | edit source]

For Further Reading[edit | edit source]

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Emigration records (Emigratie registers, Registres des émigrés)[edit | edit source]

Research use: Very valuable for making proper connections to place of origin and residence in Belgium. Many researchers do not know their ancestor's place of origin.

Record type: Lists of emigrants and immigrants, and permissions for those moving within Belgium.

Time Period: 1500-present.

Content: Emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, birth dates and places, residences, destination; wife’s and childrens’ given names and ages or number of children; reasons for emigration; taxes paid; religion, military service, etc.

Location: Provincial and municipal archives.

Population coverage: 5-10%.[1]

For an extensive article with many resources, click here.

Surname Distribution Maps[edit | edit source]

Sometimes it is possible to guess where an immigrant originated through surname distribution maps.

Emigration to Sweden[edit | edit source]

A large group of emigrants left Wallonia to work in promoting mining and industry in Sweden. For more, see: Vallons in Sweden.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Family History Record Profile: Belgium,” Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 1987-1999.