Portugal Emigration and Immigration

Passenger Lists

 * 1805-1953 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only
 * 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at FindMyPast; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Portugal
 * 1904-1914 Germany, Bremen Passenger Departure Lists, 1904-1914 at MyHeritage; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Portugal
 * Ellis Island Passenger Lists, 1892-1956
 * Immigrant Ancestors Project Index of passport registers and ship logs created shortly before individuals emigrated to another country.
 * Immigrant Ships Passenger lists from all over the world. No searchable index.
 * Portuguese Passenger Manifests Index to Portuguese Passenger Manifests in Hawaii. The search bar for the index is placed at the top-right of the page.
 * Portuguese Passenger Ship Master List in U.S. Ports Index taken from major U.S. port records.

Passports

 * 1800-1946 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only
 * 1834-1966 Portugal, Porto, Passport Registers, 1834-1966 at Arquivo Distrital de Porto, accessed through Tombo.pt.
 * 1834-1967 Portugal, Vila Real, Passport Registers, 1834-1967 at Arquivo Distrital de Vila Real, accessed through Tombo.pt.
 * 1835-1928 Portugal, Viana do Castelo, Passport Registers, 1835-1928 at Arquivo Distrital de Viana do Castelo, accessed through Tombo.pt.
 * 1835-1938 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only
 * 1839-1944 Portugal, Lisboa, Passport Registers, 1839-1944 at Arquivo Distrital de Lisboa, accessed through Tombo.pt.
 * 1844-1967 Portugal, Bragança, Passport Registers, 1844-1967 at Arquivo Distrital de Bragança, accessed through Tombo.pt.
 * 1861-1901 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only
 * 1868-1965 Portugal, Braga, Passport Registers, 1868-1965 at Arquivo Distrital de Braga, accessed through Tombo.pt.
 * 1872-1910 Portugal, Madeira Passports 1872-1910 at the Madeira Regional Archive.
 * 1872-1910 Portugal, Madeira Passports 1872-1910 at Ancestry; index only ($)
 * 1872-1925 Madeira, Portugal, Passport Index, 1872-1925 at Ancestry; index only ($)
 * 1879-1883 Hawaii Passport Index 1879-1883 Passport index for Hawaii, organized by town/village of origin. Includes immigrants from Portugal, the Azores, and Brazil.
 * 1882-1965 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1882-1965 Portugal, Aveiro, Passport Registers, 1882-1965 at Arquivo Distrital de Aveiro, accessed through Tombo.pt.


 * Immigrant Ancestors Project Index of emigration documents created shortly before individuals emigrated to another country.
 * Portugal, Azores Passports Passports issued from the Azores. To view the records, select the archive (núcleo) holding the records for the island in question.
 * Angra do Heroismo contains records for Terceira, Sao Jorge &amp; Graciosa.
 * Horta contains records for Pico Faial, Flores &amp; Corvo.
 * Ponta Delgada contains records for Sao Miguel &amp; Santa Maria.

Immigration/Emigration (Imigração/Emigração)
Historically, Portugal has one of the highest emigration rates in the world. The trend reaches back to the 15th century, when Portugal began overseas exploration and colonization. Many Portuguese individuals moved to colonies in Africa, South America, and Pacific archipelagos. In the twentieth century, a large number also settled across the United States, drawn by the shipping trade in New England, California, and Hawaii.

Ship passenger lists, passport registers, emigration proceedings, citizenship papers, registration of foreigners, and similar migration documents can prove a vital link in tracing an individual back to Portugal. Such records may contain the individual's full name, age, civil status, birthplace, former residence, destination, and sometimes race or nationality. They are contained in the National and District Archives, and some have been digitized.

Background
Portugal's colonial history has long since been a cornerstone of its national identity, as has its geographic position at the south-western corner of Europe, looking out into the Atlantic Ocean. It was one of the last western colonial European powers to give up its overseas territories (among them Angola and Mozambique in 1975), turning over the administration of Macau to the People's Republic of China at the end of 1999. Consequently, it has both influenced and been influenced by cultures from former colonies or dependencies, resulting in immigration from these former territories for both economic and personal reasons. Portugal, long a country of emigration (the vast majority of Brazilians have Portuguese ancestry),[244] has now become a country of net immigration,[245] and not just from the last Indian (Portuguese until 1961), African (Portuguese until 1975), and Far East Asian (Portuguese until 1999) overseas territories. An estimated 800,000 Portuguese returned to Portugal as the country's African possessions gained independence in 1975.[244]

Since the 1990s, along with a boom in construction, several new waves of Ukrainian, Brazilian, Lusophone Africans and other Africans have settled in the country. Romanians, Moldovans, Kosovo Albanians, Russians and Chinese have also migrated to the country. Portugal's Romani population is estimated to be at about 40,000.

Numbers of Venezuelan, Pakistani and Indian migrants are also significant. It is estimated that over 30,000 seasonal, often illegal immigrants work in agriculture, mainly in the south where they are often exploited by organised seasonal-worker's networks. The workers sometimes get paid less than half the minimum pay established by law. These migrants who often arrive without due documentation or work-contracts, make up over 90% of agricultural workers in the south of Portugal. Most are Indo-Asians, from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Thailand. In the interior of the Alentejo there are many African workers. Significant numbers also come from Eastern Europe, Moldova, Ukraine, Romania and Brazil.[246]

In addition, a number of EU citizens, mostly from the United Kingdom or other northern European countries, have become permanent residents in the country (with the British community being mostly composed of retired pensioners who live in the Algarve and Madeira).

For Further Reading
There are additional sources listed in the FamilySearch Catalog: