Daily AncestorUSC
USC on a passenger list means United States citizen, by birth or naturalization, and explains why the traveler was not inspected as an alien.
Inspectors added it on arrival, often with the court, date and certificate number from the papers a naturalized traveler carried. Those details can take you straight to the naturalization record.
On a busy day an inspector might write only USC and nothing more. Notes such as with mother on USC list link children on an alien page to a parent listed on a separate page of citizens.
As seen in a recordNationality column of a 1922 passenger list
USC. Nat. 6/14/1915, Dist. Ct. Duluth, Cert. 591344
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "USC." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/immigration/usc. Last checked 2026-10-03.