Spain, Consular Records of Emigrants - FamilySearch Historical Records

Spain

What is in the Collection?
This collection of Spaniard consular records includes the passport registers, citizen registers, military records, and civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths of those Spaniards traveling abroad for the years of 1808 to 1960.

Spain has an extensive network of Consulates and Embassies abroad that provide a series of services for Spaniard citizens and for foreigners that want to travel to Spain. Some of these services include the registration of births, marriages, and deaths of Spaniards living abroad, residence certificates, citizenship, passports, notary public documents, visas for foreigners, and others. The civil registration created at a consular office has the same validity and follows the same legal codes as the one in the mother country. One month after the civil event has been registered in a consulate abroad, a duplicate record is sent to the Central Civil Registry in Madrid, from where copies can be requested.

Travelers sometimes had to present proofs of birth and marriage when traveling abroad. Proofs of death were needed to transport the bodies of deceased travelers and/or family members of the traveler. For more information about Spain civil registrations, see the article Spain Civil Registration - Vital Records. The information in vital records presented at consulates were used to create the records you see here, wherein the information was extracted and officials signed their approval. Moreover, some of the documents you will find in this collection will be those pertaining to official consulate actions.

Consular services are necessary for Spaniards living or traveling abroad for legal documentation, protection, and other related needs while abroad. All records created in a consular office are as valid and legal as if created in Spain

The consulate record types vary depending the business of the traveler it is documenting. Not all of the record types listed below will be available from each consulate solely because they were never recorded; they were never recorded because they weren't required. The information in each record varies by year.

These records are currently housed at the Archivo General de la Administración in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.

These records are written in Spanish; see the section "For Help Reading these Records" for access to translation helps.

This collection is being published as images become available.

Image Visibility
The following folders have been removed to comply with the 50-year cutoff restrictions on all consulate and emigration records. These records will be republished as they qualify in the future. Embajada de España en Washington D.C. (Spain Embassy in Washington D.C.) - Matrícula de Españoles 1959-1966  - Registro de Pasaportes 1955-1970  - Registro de Pasaportes 1957-1970 Consulado de San Francisco: (Consulate in San Francisco)  - Registro de Pasaportes 1959-1962  - Registro de Pasaportes 1963-1968, 1969-1970 Additional Folders  - Quintas y alistamientos; 1958-1962  - Registros de pasaportes; 1939-1964  - Matrículas de españoles; 1958-1966

Record Content
Various types of records are found in this collection, including: passport registers, nationality cards, registers of citizens, military records, and civil registration births, marriages, and deaths.

Vital Records
Vital records may include the following information:


 * Consular place and date
 * Names of travelers
 * Dates of birth, marriage, death
 * Place of birth, marriage, death
 * Names of parents
 * Names of related individuals
 * Names of witnesses

Migration/Passport
Passport records may contain the following information:


 * Date and place of issue
 * Name of applicant
 * Birth date and place
 * Names of minor children traveling with applicant
 * General description of the applicant

Arrival lists, ship passenger lists, and immigrant lists are all similar to passport registers and contain some of the same information if not more. Passport, arrival, immigration, and ship passenger registers may contain the following:


 * Date of register (arrival, departure)
 * Name of traveler
 * Nationality
 * Age
 * Occupation
 * Marital status
 * Birthplace
 * Name of issuing authority
 * Where the traveler is going (destination)
 * Place of departure

Citizenship Records
Citizen schedules may contain the following information:


 * Place and date of issue
 * Name and age
 * Marital status
 * Occupation
 * Birth date and place or age
 * Residence place
 * Proof citizenship

Military Records
Enlistment records may contain the following:


 * Name of enlisted man
 * Draft/file number
 * Enlistment year and place
 * Residence of enlisted man
 * Age
 * Nationality/birthplace

How Do I Search the Collection?
Some record sets have indexes; these indexes were created at the end of the year. Copy errors could have been made in the index, so you want to find the actual record to verify the information is correct. Using the index is a helpful way to find the actual record.

See the sections below for tips and uses for searching and finding the record of your ancestor in this collection and using the information in the record.

If you are unable to find a record for your ancestor in this collection, see the corresponding section below.

Searchng the Collection
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page To search the collection, you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒Select the "Country" ⇒Select the "Consular Office" ⇒Select the "Record Type and Years" which takes you to the images.

Search the collection by image, comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

When searching: As you are searching, it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

For Help Reading These Records
These records are in Spanish. For help reading the records, see the following wiki articles:


 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * Reading Spanish handwritten records
 * Script tutorial for Spanish

What Do I Do Next?
All of these types of records are useful in acquiring that information which is needed to find your ancestor's civil or church records or to replace those civil and church records if the records are unavailable or were destroyed.


 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church records Spain Catholic Church Records (FamilySearch Historical Records).
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * The name of a marriage officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the province. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other provinces.
 * Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Use the marital status (whether a divorce or death dissolved a marriage) to identify previous marriages.
 * Witnesses often were relatives of the parents.

I Found Who I was Looking for, Now What?
When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

For death records, the information in records is usually reliable, but depends upon the knowledge of the informant.

Regarding marriage and death records, name changes, shortened names, or nicknames may have been used by your ancestors, so pay attention to other relationships (parents, spouse, siblings, children, etc.) that can confirm whether you have the right person/record.

Do not overlook the possibility that your ancestor may have been immigrating (moving to a new country or region of Spain), visiting family members in other countries or regions of Spain, vacationing, or traveling on business.

Continue to search the indexes and records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have lived in the same area or a nearby area.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, Now What?
Use these records to supplement your research of your traveling ancestor: Spain Emigration and Immigration

Citing This Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

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