USB
USB on a passenger list means US born: the passenger was a native U.S. citizen, often a child returning home with immigrant parents.
Inspectors wrote it to explain why someone listed among aliens did not need alien inspection. American-born children who had visited the old country were often entered on their parents' alien page and marked USB so the family stayed together on the list.
The note leads to a U.S. birth record, and some lists add the birth date or birth certificate number. It also shows the family had lived in the U.S. before, so look for an earlier arrival.
As seen in a recordName column of a 1924 passenger list
Mary Petrak, 6, USB, born Scranton, Pa.
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "USB." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/immigration/usb. Last checked 2026-10-03.