Saudi Arabia Emigration and Immigration

Online Sources

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

Saudi Arabia 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 Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's Central Department of Statistics & Information estimated the foreign population at the end of 2014 at 33% (10.1 million). The CIA Factbook estimated that as of 2013 foreign nationals living in Saudi Arabia made up about 21% of the population. Other sources report differing estimates.
 * Indian: 1.5 million
 * Pakistani: 1.3 million
 * Egyptian: 900,000
 * Yemeni: 800,000
 * Bangladeshi: 400,000
 * Filipino: 500,000
 * Jordanian/Palestinian: 260,000
 * Indonesian: 250,000
 * Sri Lankan: 350,000
 * Sudanese: 250,000
 * Syrian: 100,000
 * Turkish: 80,000
 * There are around 100,000 Westerners in Saudi Arabia, most of whom live in compounds or gated communities.

Emigration From Saudi Arabia

 * As the Saudi population grows and oil export revenues stagnate, pressure for "Saudization" (the replacement of foreign workers with Saudis) has grown, and the Saudi government hopes to decrease the number of foreign nationals in the country.
 * Saudi Arabia expelled 800,000 Yemenis in 1990 and 1991 and has built a Saudi–Yemen barrier against an influx of illegal immigrants and against the smuggling of drugs and weapons.
 * In November 2013, Saudi Arabia expelled thousands of illegal Ethiopian residents from the Kingdom.
 * Over 500,000 undocumented migrant workers — mostly from Somalia, Ethiopia, and Yemen — have been detained and deported since 2013.