Iran Emigration and Immigration

Online Sources

 * 1946-1971 Free Access: Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971 Ancestry, free. Index and images. Passenger lists of immigrants leaving Germany and other European ports and airports between 1946-1971. The majority of the immigrants listed in this collection are displaced persons - Holocaust survivors, former concentration camp inmates and Nazi forced laborers, as well as refugees from Central and Eastern European countries and some non-European countries.
 * 1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, at Ancestry.com, index and images. ($)
 * 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at FindMyPast; index & images ($)

British Overseas Subjects

 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Iran at FindMyPast, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Iran at FindMyPast, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials at Ancestry, index and images, ($)

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

Iran 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 Iran

 * There were large Circassian migration waves towards mainland Iran as the Circassians were displaced from the Caucasus in the 19th century.
 * A Black African population exists due to historical slavery.
 * A substantial number of Russians arrived in the early 20th century as refugees from the Russian revolution, but their number has dwindled following the Iran crisis of 1946 and the Iranian Revolution.
 * In the 20th to 21st centuries, there has been limited immigration to Iran from Turkey, Iraqis (especially huge numbers during the 1970s), Afghanistan (mostly arriving as refugees in 1978), Lebanese (especially in Qom, though a Lebanese community has been present in the nation for centuries), Indians (mostly arriving temporarily during the 1950s to 1970s, typically working as doctors, engineers, and teachers), Koreans (mostly in the 1970s as labour migrants), China (mostly since the 2000s working in engineering or business projects), and Pakistan, partly due to labour migrants and partly to Balochi ties across the Iranian-Pakistani border.
 * About 200,000 Iraqis arrived as refugees in 2003, mostly living in refugee camps near the border; an unknown number of these has since returned to Iraq.

Emigration From Iran
According to various sources, in 2010, there were an estimated between 2 to 3 million Iranians living abroad, mostly in North America, Europe, Persian Gulf States, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Australia and the broader Middle East. Others estimate a lower number, of around 1.5 million or less. For the most part, they emigrated after the Iranian Revolution in 1979. On 21 of February 2021 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Iran) published new statistics showing that 4,037,258 Iranians are currently living abroad according to their data.