Dominican Republic Miscellaneous Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Dominican Republic

Title in the Language of the Record
República Dominicana, Registros Misceláneos

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.

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

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.

Sample Images
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?
Use these records to learn information that will lead to other vital records, such as births/baptisms, marriage, and/or death/burial records. Naturalization petitions are good for learning the birth city whereas the passenger list may only list a country.

These records may be used to document your immigrant ancestor's trip to the Dominican Republic, but do not overlook the possibility of finding ancestors that were merely vacationing, visiting relatives, or traveling on business.

Read this article to help you search for names more effectively: 5 Ways to Win the Name Game

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page  ⇒ 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 entries or images and compare the information about the individuals listed 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, 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 guides:


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

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.

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

Tips to Keep in Mind
When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Remember that your ancestor's name may be spelled according to the new country's native language or the language of your ancestor's home country.

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.

The port your ancestor departed from may not be his/her hometown.

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

 * Do not forget to cite the record. See below for help citing this collection.
 * 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.
 * 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.

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).

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.


 * Collection Citation:

Top of Page