Seychelles Emigration and Immigration

Online Sources

 * 1728-1811 Ile de France (Mauritius) French Overseas Civil Registration and Parish Registers, 1728-1811, index and images. The Seychelles belonged to Mauritius until 1906.
 * 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 Seychelles
 * 1806-1807 France National Overseas Archives, Seychelles
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Seychelles, index & images ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Seychelles, index & images ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, Seychelles, index & images ($)

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

Seychelles 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 Seychelles

 * Seychelles was uninhabited prior to being encountered by Europeans in the 16th century. It faced competing French and British interests until coming under full British control in the late 18th century.
 * The Seychelles belonged to Mauritius until 1906. It proclaimed independence from the United Kingdom in 1976.
 * Seychellois culture and society is an eclectic mix of French, British, and African influences, with more recent infusions of Chinese and Indian elements.
 * When the British gained control of the islands during the Napoleonic Wars, they allowed the French upper class to retain their land. Both the French and British settlers used enslaved Africans, and although the British prohibited slavery in 1835, African workers continued to come. The British administration employed Indians on indentured servitude to the same degree as in Mauritius resulting in a small Indian population. The Indians, like a similar minority of Chinese, were confined to a merchant class.