Indonesia Emigration and Immigration

Online Records

 * 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
 * 1960-2012 at FamilySearch -  How to Use this Collection; images only.  Court records relating to emigration.
 * 1954-2012 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only.
 * 1960-2011 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only.
 * 1951-2013 } at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only.
 * 1958-2013 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only.
 * 1960-2013 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only.
 * 1977-2003 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only. Includes Naturalsasi (naturalizations).
 * 1961-2013 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only. These records include SBKRI (applications for Indonesian citizenship) and Berita Acara Sumpah (minutes of citizenship oaths)
 * 1950-2012 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only. Includes naturalization and citizenship records.
 * 1953-2013 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only.
 * 1975-2014 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only.
 * 1925-2013 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only. Naturalization records from the Wonogiri District Court, Indonesia. These records include Permohonan SBKRI (Applications for Indonesian Citizenship), Surat Keterangan W.N.I. (Certificate of citizenship), and Permohonan Surat Keterangan W.N.I. (Applications for Indonesian Citizenship).
 * 1927-2011 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only. Naturalization and citizenship-related records from the district court of Purwodadi, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia. Includes the following record types: Pewarganegaraan (naturalizations), and Surat Bukti Kewarganegaraan Republik Indonesia (SBKRI) which documents Indonesian citizenship of ethnic Chinese living in Indonesia.
 * 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.

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

Indonesia 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.

Immigration into Indonesia

 * The first Europeans arrived in the archipelago in 1512, when Portuguese traders, led by Francisco Serrão, sought to monopolize the sources of nutmeg, cloves, and cubeb pepper in the Maluku Islands.
 * Dutch and British traders followed. In 1602, the Dutch established the Dutch East India Company and became the dominant European power for almost 200 years. The VOC was dissolved in 1800 following bankruptcy, and the Netherlands established the Dutch East Indies as a nationalized colony. For most of the colonial period, Dutch control over the archipelago was tenuous. In December 1949, the Dutch formally recognized Indonesian independence.
 * In 1930, Dutch and other Europeans, Eurasians, and derivative people like the Indos, numbered 240,000 or 0.4% of the total population. Historically, they constituted only a tiny fraction of the native population and remain so today. The Dutch colonial empire's primary purpose was commercial exchange as opposed to sovereignty over homogeneous landmasses.

Immigration, naturalization and foreigner registration (Imigrasi, pewarganegaraan, kewarganegaraan)
These records are very valuable for making proper connections to place of origin in other countries, and for pinpointing place of residence in Indonesia. Many researchers do not know their ancestor's place of origin. They are generally available from the 1700s to the present. Records can be found at the National Archives, municipal archives, and Chinese community kapitans.

They generally include the immigrant’s name, age, occupation, birth date and place, former residence, destination; wife’s name, childrens’ given names and ages or number of children; religion, race, nationality, sometimes picture. Chinese immigration records give names and places in Chinese characters.