Dominican Republic Miscellaneous Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Dominican Republic

What is in This Collection?
These records include residency permit requests, immigration tax exemption requests, fire-arm permit renewals, passenger arrival and departure lists, and immigration-related correspondence. The records are originally housed at the Archivo General de la Nación in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

These records were obtained from public access sources in the Dominican Republic and may be used for informational and research purposes only. Please direct inquiries, requests, or concerns to the e-mail listed at the bottom of the FamilySearch Privacy Policy (https://familysearch.org/privacy/).

Additional records will be published as they become available.

Reading These Records
These records are written in Spanish. For help reading these records see the following guides:
 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * BYU Spanish Script Tutorial
 * FamilySearch Learning Center videos:
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 1
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 2

If you speak Spanish, the following free online lesson may be helpful to learn how to use the information in these records:
 * Registros Civiles y Parroquiales – Spanish

What Can these Records Tell Me?
Emigration and immigration records usually include the following information:


 * Name of the immigrant
 * Age, race, color, gender and occupation
 * Physical descriptions of the immigrant
 * Port of entry and mode of transportation
 * Date of entry
 * Departure place
 * Residence

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:


 * It is helpful to know such information as your ancestor's given name and surname
 * It is helpful to know identifying information such as residence, age, and family relationships
 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor
 * Your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the 


 * 1) Select Record Type and Years to view the images

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?

 * Use the age to calculate a birth date


 * Get the names of family members and look for their records


 * Use the place of residence as a starting point and search nearby towns for further records and ancestors


 * If just the country is given, use the last name to search for your ancestor and his/her family in his/her home country; this is called a surname search and helps to pinpoint what cities/provinces/states were the hometowns of families


 * Use the last name to search for any possible relatives that may have traveled with, after, or before your ancestor

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * If possible, use what you know to find an image of the original record. The index contains only basic identifying information for a person; the original record therefore may contain more information not found in the index
 * Continue to search the index for family members

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * Check for variants of given names and surnames. It was not uncommon for an individual to be listed under a nickname, middle name, or abbreviation of their given name
 * Clerks may have written/spelled the name of your ancestor as they heard it, not as it is spelled in your ancestor's native language. Learn about pronunciation of your ancestor's native language
 * Search the records of nearby locations. In the period of this collection, few individuals ever lived more than 20 miles from their place pf birth, though smaller moves were common
 * The port your ancestor departed from may not be his/her hometown

A boundary change could have occurred and the record of you ancestor is now in a neighboring state or region, or your ancestor immigrated to another country. Search the records of nearby areas or the immigration/emigration records of other countries.

Search for church records (baptism, marriage, and burial records) here: Dominican Republic Catholic Church Records (FamilySearch Historical Records).

Search for civil records (birth, marriage, and death records) here Dominican Republic Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records).

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the Dominican Republic.
 * Research Tips and Strategies

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.