Daily AncestorImmigrant
An immigrant is a person who comes into a country to live there permanently; in U.S. records it means a foreigner admitted to stay.
In U.S. law the word came to mean someone admitted for permanent residence, as opposed to a nonimmigrant such as a visitor, a student or a traveler in transit. The difference matters: after June 29, 1906, only people admitted for permanent residence could later naturalize.
From 1924 every immigrant needed an immigrant visa. Visitors' visas stayed at the port and were later destroyed, while immigrant visas went to Washington and became permanent visa files.
As seen in a recordPassenger list, port of New York, 1929
Admitted for permanent residence. Immigration visa No. 1187, issued Hamburg, 1929
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Immigrant." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/immigration/immigrant. Last checked 2026-10-03.