Bangladesh Emigration and Immigration

Online Records For India Including Bangladesh
For online records prior to the partition of India into Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India:


 * Families in British India Society database
 * Immigrant Ancestors Project
 * 1676-1917 French Overseas National Archives, India, 1676-1917, index.
 * 1702-1830 Records relating to Europeans in India, 1702-1830, images
 * 1740-1948 Bonds and agreements for overseas civil servants, 1740-1948, images
 * 1746-1939 UK, Registers of Employees of the East India Company and the India Office, 1746-1939 at Ancestry ($), index and images.
 * 1749-1857 Applications and petitions for employment in the India Company's overseas civil service, 1749-1857, images
 * 1801-1871 Naturalisation case papers 1801-1871, index and images. Individuals applying to become British citizens between 1801 and 1871.
 * 1810-1811, 1826-1869 England, Alien Arrivals, 1810-1811, 1826-1869 at Ancestry ($), index and images.
 * 1807-1812 List of passengers proceeding from St. Helena to England, 1807-1812 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only. Includes passengers passing through St. Helena from India and China to England.
 * 1860-1872 Indian immigration into Natal, 1860-1872 at FamilySearch Catalog; index & images
 * 1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 at Ancestry ($), index.
 * 1879-1916 Indian immigration passes, 1879-1916 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only
 * 1879-1919 Plantation register of Indian immigrants, 1879-1919 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only
 * 1879-1916 Indian emigration to Fiji 1879-1916
 * 1879-1916 Indian Indentured Labour, 1879 – 1916 The introduction Indian Indentured Labour was an important chapter in Fiji’s development. Over a period of 37 years (1875 – 1916), 87 ships brought over 60,538 labourers to work on local plantations.
 * 1890-1947 India, civil registration of births and deaths of British citizens
 * 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at Findmypast - index & images ($)
 * 1899-1922 Register of deaths of Indian immigration (by plantation), 1899-1922 at FamilySearch Catalog; index & images
 * 1904-1914 Germany, Bremen Passenger Departure Lists, 1904-1914 at MyHeritage - index & images ($); includes those with Destination of India

Almanacs and Directories
At the back of the Bombay Calendar and Almanac and the Madras Almanac, there are lists of shipping departures from India to various ports in England. The lists include the name of the British passengers and notes the presence of a native servant. However, they do not usually give the name of the servant. Occasionally free native passengers may be named. Published lists of passages to and from India are also included in the Bengal Directory of 1815-59.
 * Bombay Calendar and Almanac 1818 1822 1837 1842 1848 1853 1855 1856


 * ''The Madras Almanac 1808 1810 ; 1812 ; 1815 ; 1816; 1817 ; 1820
 * 1821  1822; 1823; 1824; 1825; 1826  ; 1827; 1828; 1829; 1830
 * 1831 1832; 1833; 1834; 1835; 1837; 1838; 1839; 1840
 * 1842 1842; 1845; 1846; 1848; 1849; 1850
 * 1851 1852; 1853; 1857; 1858; 1859
 * The Madras Almanac for
 * 1813 HathiTrust Digital Library; 1815 tamildigitallibrary.in; 1832 1834 1839 all HathiTrust DL; 1839 Google Books.


 * Links to the Bengal Directory

The British Library, India Office
Asian and African Studies enquiries The British Library, India Office 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7873 Fax: +44 (0)20 7412 7641
 * India Office Family History Search
 * Collection Guide: India Office Records and Private Papers: family history

They offer a remote Ecclesiastical Search Service and Certified Copies for enquirers who cannot find required information on this database, and those who are unable to visit our reading room. Use this website to search: The information included in the India Office Family History Search website is taken from a card index hitherto available only at the British Library. The card index was compiled by members of staff at the India Office Records from the mid-1970s onwards to meet the growing interest in genealogy. Users should note that probably less than 10% of the biographical sources available in the India Office Records was incorporated into the index, although future additions to this website are planned. As the biographical information included in this website is only a small part of the total available in the archives, users may need to search elsewhere in the records – see India Office Records: Family History Sources.
 * 300,000 births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials in the India Office Records
 * biographical notes from a variety of sources
 * for mainly British and European people in India c.1600-1949
 * for people in other countries connected with the history of the British in India

Passport Records
Duplicate identity certificates of natives of India proceeding to Europe 1900-17 (when their issue ceased) and duplicate passports from 1907 were sent to the British Library, India Office. Identity certificates 1900-1917 and passports for 1907-15 are at the British Library under reference L/P and J6. The duplicate passports for 1916-31 appear to have been destroyed.

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National Archives, Kew
The National Archives Ruskin Avenue, Kew Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU England Website Guide: Immigration and Immigrants

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

Bangladesh 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 Bangladesh

 * Two decades after Vasco Da Gama's landing in Calicut, the Bengal Sultanate gave permission for the Portuguese settlement in Chittagong to be established in 1528. It became the first European colonial enclave in Bengal. Portuguese ships from Goa and Malacca began frequenting the port city in the 16th century.
 * The Bengal Sultan after 1534 allowed the Portuguese to create several settlements at Chitagoong, Satgaon, Hughli, Bandel, and Dhaka.
 * After the 1757 Battle of Plassey, Bengal was the first region of the Indian subcontinent conquered by the British East India Company.

Emigration From Bangladesh

 * First generation migrants may have moved abroad from Bangladesh for better living conditions, to escape poverty, to support their financial condition or to send money back to families in Bangladesh. With a total of 13 million Bangladeshis living abroad, the country has ranked 4th among top 20 countries of origin for international migrants.
 * There is a large Bangladeshi diaspora population in Saudi Arabia.
 * There are also significant migrant communities in various Arab states of the Persian Gulf, particularly the United Arab Emirates and Oman, where Bangladeshis are mainly classified as foreign workers.
 * The United Kingdom's 2011 census found 451,529 people of Bangladeshi ancestry living in the UK. British Bangladeshis are mainly concentrated in east London boroughs (Tower Hamlets and Newham). The migration to Britain is mainly linked with chain migration from the Sylhet Division.
 * In the United States, the number of Bangladeshis are 800,000 with 250,000 of them living in New York. Jackson Heights and Jamaica house most of the Bangladeshis in the USA. Bangladeshi also live in Paterson, New Jersey.
 * Others live in Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, and in other Western countries such as Italy, Canada, and Australia.