Australia Immigration Records

Australia is one of those countries where most of the general population these days is an immigrant or descended from an immigrant. This makes for quite an overwhelming experience when it comes to genealogy research if you do not know where to start or what you are looking for. On the bright side, if you do know, finding immigration records in Australia is really not that hard since at least there are organized, available records. Since the turn of the century The National Archives of Australia has been keeping up with who comes into and who leaves the country and a number of related records.

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These related records include citizenship and naturalization records, migrant applications, and non-resident, or alien, applications. These can be helpful for a number of reasons, but most of the time those working on finding immigration records in Australia have a genealogical purpose. These records can help them discover the history behind their family coming to the country, including whether or not they worked toward citizenship or registered as an alien. Records are held for all states from 1904, which is when the function of citizenship was passed to the Australian Government.

When in the process of finding immigration records in Australia, there are a number of different types of records you may find. The most detailed are naturalization records. There are two different kinds of these as well, including certificates and case files. Certificates state that citizenship was attained, but case files include much more detail and therefore are generally more highly sought after. They include application, oath of allegiance, and other correspondence. The information included in these can be highly valuable as it includes date of arrival, the plane or boat arrived on, town and country of birth, and even names of other family members. It also includes occupation and address in the country at the time of naturalization.

These are the gold of the genealogy world as they actually get you out of the country and give you a place to start the second leg of your research. Many times you can get to a certain time in history and the records in the country you are in stop, but finding immigration records to Australia, especially passsenger lists, can give you the boost you need to get the second part of your research off the ground. Our lineage is important to know, and while our roots do not determine who we are today, it is much easier sometimes to be who we are if we know where we came from.

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