Haiti Emigration and Immigration

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Online Sources

• 1668-1809 Saint Domingue, Archives Nationales d'Outre-Mer Overseas French Civil Registration
• 1813-1834 Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1813-1834, index, incomplete ($)
• 1892-1924 New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924 Search results for Haiti
• United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records

British Overseas Subjects

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

Finding the Town of Origin in Haiti

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

Haiti 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.

Historical Background

• In 1492, Christopher Columbus left 39 men on the island of Hispaniola (which became Haiti and the Dominican Republic), who founded the settlement of La Navidad. Relations with the native peoples, initially good, broke down and the settlers were later killed by the Taíno.
• The western part of the island was thus gradually settled by French buccaneers; among them was Bertrand d'Ogeron, who succeeded in growing tobacco and recruited many French colonial families from Martinique and Guadeloupe.
• In 1697 France and Spain divided Hispaniola between them. France received the western third and named it Saint-Domingue. The French set about creating sugar and coffee plantations, worked by vast numbers of slaves imported from Africa.
• The French settlers were outnumbered by slaves by almost 10 to 1. According to the 1788 Census, Haiti's population consisted of nearly 25,000 Europeans, 22,000 free coloreds and 700,000 African slaves.
• The French colonial government allowed some rights to free people of color (gens de couleur), the mixed-race descendants of European male colonists and African female slaves (and later, mixed-race women). Over time, many were released from slavery and they established a separate social class. White French Creole fathers frequently sent their mixed-race sons to France for their education. More of the free people of color lived in the south of the island, near Port-au-Prince, and many intermarried within their community. They frequently worked as artisans and tradesmen, and began to own some property, including slaves of their own.
• Inspired by the French Revolution of 1789 and principles of the rights of man, the French settlers and free people of color pressed for greater political freedom and more civil rights. Soon a full-blown slave rebellion had broken out across the entire colony, the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804). It has been estimated that between 24,000 and 100,000 Europeans, and between 100,000 and 350,000 Haitian ex-slaves, died in the revolution.
• The independence of Saint-Domingue was proclaimed under the native name 'Haiti' in 1804. Leaders ordered the massacre of nearly all white men, women, children; between January and April 1804, 3,000 to 5,000 whites were killed, including those who had been friendly and sympathetic to the black population. Only three categories of white people were selected out as exceptions and spared: Polish soldiers, the majority of whom had deserted from the French army and fought alongside the Haitian rebels; the small group of German colonists invited to the north-west region; and a group of medical doctors and professionals. Reportedly, people with connections to officers in the Haitian army were also spared, as well as the women who agreed to marry non-white men.
• The revolution led to a wave of emigration. In 1809, 9,000 refugees from Saint-Domingue, both white planters and people of color, settled en masse in New Orleans.
• The American Colonization Society (ACS) encouraged free blacks in the United States to emigrate to Haiti. Starting in September 1824, more than 6,000 African Americans migrated to Haiti, with transportation paid by the ACS. Many found the conditions too harsh and returned to the United States.
• During the political turmoil throughout Haiti's history, the government changed hands continually and native Haitians were frequently executed in large numbers.
• For example, in 1964 Francois Duvalier proclaimed himself 'President for Life'; an uprising against his rule that year in Jérémie was violently suppressed, with the ringleaders publicly executed and hundreds of mixed-raced citizens in the town killed. The bulk of the educated and professional class began leaving the country. In 1971 Duvalier died, and he was succeeded by his son Jean-Claude Duvalier. In total, roughly 40,000 to 60,000 Haitians are estimated to have been killed during the reign of the Duvaliers. Through the use of his intimidation tactics and executions, many intellectual Haitians had fled, leaving the country with a massive brain-drain. Amidst the continuing turmoil in the 1980-1990s, many Haitians attempted to flee the country.

Haitian Diaspora

• Haiti has a sizeable diaspora, present in the United States, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Canada, France, the Bahamas, Brazil, and Chile. They also live in other countries like Belgium, Turks and Caicos, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands, among others.
• In the United States alone, there are an estimated 2,003,000 people of Haitian ancestry, according to the 2010 Census; an estimated 500,000–800,000 Haitians live in the Dominican Republic and there is a Haitian community of about 165,000 in Canada. There are 105,000 Haitians in Chile, the Haitian community in France numbers about 58,973, and up to 80,000 Haitians now live in the Bahamas.

Haitian Americans

• There is a significant Haitian population in South Florida, specifically the Miami enclave of Little Haiti. New Orleans, Louisiana has many historic ties to Haiti that date back to the Haitian Revolution. New York City, especially in Flatbush, East Flatbush and Springfield Gardens, has a thriving émigré community with the second largest population of Haitians of any state in the nation. There are large and active Haitian communities in Boston; Spring Valley (New York); New Jersey; Washington D.C.; Providence; Georgia; Connecticut and Pennsylvania. There are also large Haitian communities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Paris, France; Havana, Cuba; San Juan and Kingston.

Haitian Canadians

• Many Haitians chose Canada as their new home, specifically Quebec, for linguistic and religious reasons. In coming to Canada, professional Haitians often had to bypass a Duvalier law forbidding them to leave Haiti. They frequently were forced to flee Haiti with false documents and with no legal proof of identity. Upon arrival in Canada they would declare their status as political refugees. The trend of French-speaking Haitian immigrants to Canada was to settle in Quebec. By 1965, some 2,000 Haitians had arrived. The period covering the late 1960 through the 1970s saw a dramatic change in both the volume and background of Haitian immigrants. This was the beginning of the massive exodus in response to the Duvalier regime.
• Haitians were drawn to Canada because of its tolerant immigration laws – foreign visitors, arriving with only a tourist visas, could later apply for landed immigrant status while in Canada. Canada also held an Eden-like quality for the Haitians, an image painted by friends already in Quebec who sent reports home that employment was abundant and well-paid. From 1973 to 1976 an average of approximately 3,000 Haitians were admitted to Canada each year, with a peak of 4,750 in 1974. The settlement of Haitians in Canada by the end of the exodus was estimated to have reached 45,070, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Haitian Cubans

• Haitian Creole and culture first entered Cuba with the arrival of Haitian immigrants at the start of the 19th century. Haiti was a French colony, and the final years of the 1791–1804 Haitian Revolution brought a wave of French settlers and their Haitian slaves to Cuba. They came mainly to the east, and especially Guantanamo, where the French later introduced sugar cultivation, constructed sugar refineries and developed coffee plantations. By 1804, some 30,000 French were living in Baracoa and Maisí, the furthest eastern municipalities of the province. Later, Haitians continued to come to Cuba to work as braceros (hand workers, from the Spanish word brazo, meaning "arm") in the fields cutting cane.

Haitian Brazilians

Haitian immigration to Brazil become a migratory phenomenon that gained large after the earthquake that rocked Haiti in 2010. The presence of Haitians in Brazil was negligible before the political instability that affected the country in 2004. Since then, the presence of military peacekeepers UN (mostly Brazilian), Haitians have come to see in Brazil a reference point, a fact that was reinforced after the disaster, which triggered the great migratory wave that started in 2010. Haitians had always been migrating to Brazil, but following the 2010 earthquake, Brazil granted humanitarian visas and permanent residencies to approximately 98,000 Haitians. However, not long after settling, around 30,000 of those Haitians left Brazil partly due to Brazil's economic recession during that time.

Haitian Chileans

Haitian immigration is one of the migrations that have grown the most in Chile in recent years, with 731% between 2013 and 2016, a period in which the arrival of 41,000 people is estimated. Prior to 2013, some 4,000 Haitian immigrants were estimated while In the 2002 census, the Haitian population living in Chile was only 50 people. The vast majority of Haitians in Chile arrived as tourists since they did not need to apply for a visa beforehand, and then overstayed without returning to Haiti. In 2017 there were 105,000 Haitians in Chile. By the end of 2019 this number had grown considerably to 185,865 according to the National Statistics Institute.

Haitians in France

The 2011 Census recorded 62 298 Haitian-born people in France.

Haitians in the Dominican Republic

• Since the early 20th century, Haitians have made up the largest immigrant population in the Dominican Republic.
• After the Dominican War of Independence ended, Haitian immigration to the Dominican Republic was focused in the border area; this immigration was encouraged by the Haitian government and consisted of peasants who crossed the border to the Dominican Republic because of the land scarcity in Haiti.
• The arrival of Haitians to the rest of the country began after the United States occupation of Haiti and the Dominican Republic around 1916, when US-owned sugar companies imported, annually, thousands of Haitian workers to cut costs.
• After April 1937, Cuba began the deportation of thousands of Haitians; this led to the arrival of unemployed Haitians en masse to the Dominican Republic.
• In the 1960s, after the fall of the dictatorship of Trujillo, Haitian immigration boomed: according to Joaquín Balaguer, 30,000 Haitians crossed the border between 1960 and 1965. During the administrations of Joaquín Balaguer, Antonio Guzmán and Salvador Jorge Blanco, in Dominican Republic, and the Duvaliers, in Haiti, the influx of Haitian laborers was continuous and was increasing. Every year contracts were signed between both countries for the importation of over ten thousand Haitians as temporary workers (although they were rarely returned to their country) in exchange for the payment of millions of dollars.

Haitians in the Bahamas

The Haitian community in The Bahamas is also largely of African descent and numbers about 80,000. Due to an extremely high immigration of Haitians to The Bahamas, the Bahamian government started deporting illegal Haitian immigrants to their homeland in late 2014.

Records of Haitian 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 France Emigration and Immigration Brazil Emigration and Immigration

Chile Emigration and Immigration Dominican Republic Emigration and Immigration Cuba Emigration and Immigration Bahamas Emigration and Immigration