Louisiana Naturalization and Citizenship

Availability
Naturalization records were filed in various courts in Louisiana. The Family History Library has records of the United States District Court (Eastern District) for the years 1812 to the 1930s. These are listed in the catalog under LOUISIANA - NATURALIZATION. The originals are located at the United States District Court in New Orleans.

The Family History Library also has naturalization records of New Orleans from various parish and United States district courts for the years 1821 to 1906. Some have indexes. These records are generally listed in the catalog under LOUISIANA - ORLEANS - NATURALIZATION. Most of the original records are at the New Orleans Public Library. The Howard Tilton Library also has many of the citizenship applications for New Orleans.

The Family History Library has a few naturalization papers of other parishes. In some areas, however, these papers are filed along with court and probate records, many of which the Family History Library has.

Post-1906 Records
In 1906 the Immigration and Naturalization Service (now United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) was created, forms were standardized, and duplicate records were created by the court and sent to the INS. To access these records, download a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) form from www.uscis.gov, fill it out and send it to the addresss listed on the form.You may also contact the National Archives—Fort Worth Region, http://www.archives.gov/southwest/, for naturalization records.