Russia Emigration and Immigration

Online Databases and Websites

 * Leningrad Evacuation Database. Searchable database for the 1.7 million people evacuated from Leningrad during 1941-1943. Project in progress.
 * Russian Immigrants from China to Australia, Brazil, and the U.S.A. An Alphabetical database of Russian immigrants who were living in China/Manchuria. Entries include individuals who left between 1935-1945. There are 56,472 of various lengths.
 * Immigrants from the Russian Empire, 1898-1922

Emigration Records
Emigration records list the names of people leaving and immigration records list those coming into Russia. There are passenger lists for ships coming into Russia and border-crossing records of people leaving for the United States or coming from the United States into Russia. These records may include an emigrant’s name, age, occupation, destination, and sometimes the place of origin or birth.

Most of these sources begin in the late 19th century. They can be very valuable for determining where your ancestor came from. They can also help you construct family groups.

If you don’t find your ancestor’s name, you may find emigration information on neighbors of your ancestor. Neighbors from the Caucasus often settled together in the United States and Canada (like the Doukabours and the Molokans).

Russians to the United States
Records of Russians Immigrating to U.S., 1834-1897 is now available at worldvitalrecords.com. This database consists of records of 527,394 passengers who arrived at the United States between 1834 through 1897 and identified their country of origin or nationality as Armenia, Finland, Galicia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Russian Poles, or Ukraine. Click here to access the database.

Russians to Canada
Immigrants from the Russian Empire, 1898-1922