Algeria Emigration and Immigration

Online Sources

 * 1830-1915 IREL French Overseas Civil Registration, 1830-1915, index and images
 * 1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, at Ancestry.com, index and images. ($)
 * 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
 * 1892-1924 New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924 Search results for Algeria
 * 1946-1971 Free Access: Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971 Ancestry, free. Index and images. Passenger lists of immigrants leaving Germany and other European ports and airports between 1946-1971. The majority of the immigrants listed in this collection are displaced persons - Holocaust survivors, former concentration camp inmates and Nazi forced laborers, as well as refugees from Central and Eastern European countries and some non-European countries.

British Overseas Subjects

 * 1628-1969 UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects, 1628-1969, index ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Algeria, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Algeria, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, index and images, ($)

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

Algeria 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.


 * The French invaded and captured Algiers in 1830.
 * French policy was predicated on "civilizing" the country. The slave trade and piracy in Algeria ceased following the French conquest.
 * From 1848 until independence, France administered the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria as an integral part and département of the nation.
 * One of France's longest-held overseas territories, Algeria became a destination for hundreds of thousands of European immigrants, who became known as colons and later, as Pied-Noirs.
 * Between 1825 and 1847, 50,000 French people emigrated to Algeria. These settlers benefited from the French government's confiscation of communal land from tribal peoples, and the application of modern agricultural techniques that increased the amount of arable land.
 * Many Europeans settled in Oran and Algiers, and by the early 20th century they formed a majority of the population in both cities.
 * During the late 19th and early 20th century, the European share was almost a fifth of the population. The French government aimed at making Algeria an assimilated part of France, and this included substantial educational investments especially after 1900.
 * During the colonial period, there was a large (10% in 1960) European population who became known as Pied-Noirs. They were primarily of French, Spanish and Italian origin. Almost all of this population left during the war of independence or immediately after its end.
 * Between 90,000 and 165,000 Sahrawis from Western Sahara live in the Sahrawi refugee camps in the western Algerian Sahara desert.
 * There are also more than 4,000 Palestinian refugees, who are well integrated and have not asked for assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
 * In 2009, 35,000 Chinese migrant workers lived in Algeria.

Emigration From Algeria
KNOMAD Statistics: Emigrants: 1,833,302. Top destination countries: France, Spain, Israel, Canada, Belgium, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Morocco
 * The number of European Pied-Noirs (French, Spanish and Italian) who fled Algeria totaled more than 900,000 between 1962 and 1964. The exodus to mainland France accelerated after the Oran massacre of 1962, in which hundreds of militants entered European sections of the city, and began attacking civilians.