Free Online Louisiana Immigration Records

The Ancestor Hunt regularly adds and updates new collection links, as well as searches for and fixes broken links.
(This page's most recent update is January 2025)
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Immigration Records are some of the richest genealogy record sets and can provide excellent clues as well as data about your ancestors. Specifically, when they came to America or traveled but did not immigrate. Emigration records can tell you when they left their homeland and can direct you to when they might have immigrated if you are having trouble finding the immigration record.

What types of information are available in these records? First of all, let me clarify that naturalization records are a related type of record. You can discover online naturalization collections and records available via links on this website on the Naturalizations Page. In the Petition for Naturalization record for example, where and when the applicant arrived in the U.S. is stated. The Certificate of Arrival is another immigration document used in the naturalization process.

Here’s an article that will list the information available: 45 Reasons to Research Immigration Records

Regarding immigration – it bears repeating – not EVERYONE came through Ellis Island. It was opened between 1892 and 1954. Approximately 12 million people came through that immigration station. The highest year was 1907 when just over 1,000,000 people came through. For immigrants landing in the U.S. in the 19th century and early 20th century, the busiest ports were New York, Baltimore, Boston, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. There were almost 100 ports that were used by immigrants to enter the U.S., via the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes.

It is also helpful to review emigration records as well. It sometimes occurs that an immigration record is not available online for a variety of reasons, but you might find some useful information from emigration records where one of you’re ancestors embarked on their journey to America.

Here are a few free online sites that have online emigration records available.

Denmark – The Digital Danish Emigration Archives
Norway – Digital Archives – Emigrant Records
Germany – Oldenburg Emigrants Database
Ireland – Irish Famine Emigrants 1846-1851 database
Russia – Russians to America Passenger Data File, 1834 – 1897
Germany – Germans to America Passenger Data File, 1850 – 1897
Italy – Italians to America Passenger Data File, 1855 – 1900
Germany – Hamburg Passenger List

Also listed are passenger lists for travel that may not have been immigration-related.  I have discovered interesting clues and information from non-immigration travel records as well.

Below are links to Free Online Immigration and Travel Collections. The first set is general nationwide collection links, followed by the collection links for the specific state.

Note: Some of the links listed below take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections’ images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.

Louisiana Immigration Records

United States

• Emergency Passport Applications Issued Abroad, 1877-1907; Indexes, 1874-1918
• Germans from Russia, Miscellaneous Passenger Manifests
• Immigration of Germans to the United States, created, ca. 1977 – 2002, Documenting the Period 1850 – 1897
• Immigration of Italians to the United States, created, ca. 1977 – 2002, Documenting the Period 1855 – 1900
• Immigration of Russians to the United States, created, ca. 1977 – 2002, Documenting the Period 1834 – 1897
• Index to Mennonite Immigrants on United States Passenger Lists, 1872 – 1904
• Index to Naturalizations of World War I Soldiers, 1918
• Index to Naturalizations of World War I Soldiers, 1918
• Index to the Passenger Lists to the United States from Oct. 1, 1819 to Sept. 30, 1820
• Japanese Immigrants to the United States (from BYU Idaho), 1887-1924
• Mormon Migration Database, 1840-1932
• New York, Castle Garden
• New York, Ellis Island
• Passenger and Immigration Lists Index: a Guide to Published Records of more than 720,000 Immigrants who came to the New World between the Sixteenth and the mid- Twentieth Centuries
• Passenger Lists from Ireland
• Passenger Lists of Ships coming to North America, 1607-1825
• Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving in the United States Register
• Pilgrim Ship Lists Early 1600s – Several Arrival States
• Special Passports 1829-1897; Indexes, 1829-1894
• Supplemental Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Atlantic & Gulf Coast Ports (excluding New York)
• Swedish Passenger Arrivals in U.S. Ports, 1820-1850
• U.S., German Immigrants, 1712-1933 (free Index, Images require a subscription)
• United States Immigration, Ship Arrivals & Passenger Lists
• United States, Border Crossing from Canada to United States, New Brunswick, Records of Aliens Pre-Examined at Saint John, New Brunswick, Prior to Admission at the U.S.-Canada Border, 1917-1942
• United States, Border Crossings from Canada to United States, 1894-1954
• United States, Border Crossings from Canada to United States, Land Border Entries and Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 1894-1905
• United States, Border Crossings from Canada to United States, Records and Certificates of Aliens pre-examined at Winnipeg, Manitoba Prior to Admission at the U.S.-Canada border, 1917-1954
• United States, Border Crossings from Canada to United States, 1895-1956
• United States, Border Crossings from Mexico to United States,, 1903-1957
• United States, Eastern US Ports, Passenger Lists
• United States, Famine Irish Passenger Index, 1846-1851
• United States, Germans to America Index, 1850-1897
• United States, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
• United States, Index to Alien Case Files, 1940-2003
• United States, Index to Passenger Arrivals, Atlantic and Gulf Ports, 1820-1874
• United States, Index to Passenger Lists, 1820-1940
• United States, Italians to America Index, 1855-1900
• United States, Japanese Americans Relocated During World War II, 1942-1946
• United States, Japanese Immigration Index
• United States, New England, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1911-1954
• United States, Passport Applications, 1795-1925
• United States, Passport to Paradise: the Copenhagen “Mormon” Passenger Lists
• United States, Russians to America Index, 1834-1897

Louisiana

• Acadian Emigrants to Louisiana 1784-1785
• Acadian Emigrants to Louisiana 1784-1785
• Acadians to Louisiana, the Seven Ships, Passenger Lists, 1785
• Ascension Parish, An Attempt to Re-assemble the Old Settlers in Family Groups
• Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1910-1920
• Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1910-1945
• Die Ersten Deutschen am Unteren Mississippi und die Creolen deutscher Abstammung (The First Germans on the lower Mississippi and the Creoles of German Descent)
• Die ersten Deutschen am unteren Mississippi und die Creolen deutscher abstammung, Vortrag, gehalten am 16. September 1904 vor dem “Germanistischen Congress” in der Congresshalle der St. Louiser Weltausstellung
• Florida y Luisiana
• Immigrant Ships and Partial Passenger Lists to New Orleans, 1845, 1847
• Indexes of Vessels Arriving at Brownsville, Texas, 1935-1955; Houston, Texas, 1948-1954; and at Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana 1908-1954
• Lake Charles, Indexes of Vessels Arriving at Lake Charles, Louisiana 1908-1954
• Louisiana Immigration & Naturalization Records
• Louisiana Naturalization Records, 1831-1906
• Louisiana, Eastern District Naturalization Petitions, 1838-1861
• Louisiana, Naturalization Records, 1831-1906
• Louisiana, New Orleans Index to Passenger Lists, 1853-1952
• Louisiana, New Orleans Passenger Departures, 1867-1871
• Louisiana, New Orleans Passenger Departures, 1867-1871
• Louisiana, New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820-1945
• Louisiana, New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820-1945
• Louisiana, New Orleans, Slave Manifests of Coastwise Vessels, 1807-1860
• Louisiana, Passage Index, 1718-1724
• Louisiane Passages 1718-1724
• New Orleans Index to Passenger Lists, Collection Record, 1853-1952
• New Orleans Passenger Arrivals 1813
• New Orleans Passenger Arrivals 1815
• New Orleans Passenger Departures, Collection Record, 1867-1871
• New Orleans Ship Passenger List Online Index — January to July 1851
• New Orleans, Arrivals, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Page 1
• New Orleans, Arrivals, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Page 2
• New Orleans, Arrivals, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Page 3
• New Orleans, Arrivals, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Page 4
• New Orleans, Arrivals, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Page 5
• New Orleans, Arrivals, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Page 6
• New Orleans, Crew Lists, 1803-1826
• New Orleans, Netherlands Passenger Lists Holland-America Line, Collection Record, 1900-1974
• New Orleans, Netherlands, Holland-America Line Passenger Lists, 1900-1974
• New Orleans, Quarterly Abstracts of Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, 1820-1875
• New Orleans, Quarterly Abstracts of Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, Collection Record, 1820-1875
• New Orleans, Ship Registers and Enrollments
• New Orleans, Slave Manifests of Coastwise Vessels, 1807-1860
• New Orleans, Slave Manifests of Coastwise Vessels, Collection Record, 1807-1860
• Passenger List Port of New Orleans, by Ship
• Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, 1820-1945; Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving in New Orleans, 1853-1952
• Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, 1822, 1851
• Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1813-1849
• Quarterly Abstracts of Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, 1820-1875
• Sabine Parish, History of Sabine Parish, Louisiana from the First Explorers and Settlers to the Present
• Ships’ Passenger Lists to Louisiana Before 1820
• St. Landry Parish, Naturalization and Immigration Records, 1903-1913; Index, 1878-1905
• The Arrival of the Acadians in Louisiana
• The Canary Islands Migration to Louisiana, 1778-1783, the History and Passenger Lists of the Isleños Volunteer Recruits and their Families
• The First Families of Louisiana
• The French Settlement Historical Register
• Zur Geschichte der Deutschen am unteren Mississippi, das Redemptionssystem im Staate Louisiana (Louisiana Redemption System from the 17th to Early 19th Centuries & German Immigrants)