Immigration and naturalization

First papers, manifests, steerage and the words of arrival and citizenship. Free to print and share. Full explanations: dailyancestor.com/dictionary/immigration

A-File

Case file kept under an alien registration number

A-number

Personal number given to each registered alien

Alien

Resident or arrival who is not a U.S. citizen

Alien registration

1940s federal record of every noncitizen

Angel Island

Immigration station in San Francisco Bay, 1910 to 1940

Asiatic Barred Zone

1917 area of Asia whose natives were barred

Border crossing card

ID card for crossing a land border

By whom was passage paid

Who paid the immigrant's ship fare

C-File

Federal copy file of a 1906 to 1956 naturalization

Cabin passenger

First or second class traveler, not steerage

Cable Act

1922 law giving married women their own citizenship

Card manifest

One-person arrival card used at land borders

Castle Garden

New York immigrant depot, 1855 to 1890

Certificate of arrival

Federal proof of lawful entry for naturalizing

Certificate of landing

Arrival proof for someone who came before mid-1906

Certificate of naturalization

New citizen's proof document from the court

Certificate of residence

ID Chinese residents needed under the 1892 law

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law barring Chinese laborers and citizenship

Contract laborer

Immigrant hired before arrival, barred from 1885

Contract ticket number

Steamship company's booking number for a passenger

Court of record

Any court, federal to city, that could naturalize

Customs passenger list

1820 to 1890s arrival list filed with customs

Debarred

Refused entry at a port or border crossing

Declarant

Alien who had filed first papers, not yet a citizen

Declaration of intention

Sworn first step: intent to become a citizen

Denaturalization

Court cancellation of a naturalization

Denizen

Foreigner granted some rights of a native subject

Deported

Sent out of the country by immigration officials

Derivative citizenship

Citizenship gained through a husband or parent

Detained

Held briefly at the station before release

Discharged at pier

Released at the dock without full inspection

Displaced person

War refugee admitted under the 1948 DP law

Ellis Island

Federal immigration station in New York Harbor

Emergency passport application

Request abroad for a six-month U.S. passport

Emigrant

Person leaving a homeland to settle abroad

Enemy alien

Noncitizen from a country at war with the U.S.

Excluded classes

Groups the law barred from admission

Expatriation

Loss of U.S. citizenship through some act

Final destination

U.S. state and town the arrival was bound for

First papers

Everyday name for the declaration of intention

Free white persons

Old racial test for who could naturalize

Gentlemen's Agreement

1907 deal with Japan limiting laborer emigration

Going to join

Relative or friend in America the arrival was headed to

Green card

Card proving lawful permanent residence

Head tax

Federal fee charged on each arriving alien

Immigrant

Person arriving to settle permanently

Immigrant inspector

Federal officer who questioned and admitted arrivals

Immigrant visa

Consul's permit to move to the U.S. for good

In transit

Passing through the U.S. to another country

Ineligible to citizenship

Barred by race from ever naturalizing

Last permanent residence

Town the arrival lived in just before leaving

Literacy test

1917 reading test for immigrants over 16

LPC

Feared unable to support himself (exclusion ground)

Manifest

Ship's official list handed to port officials

Marks of identification

Visible physical marks noted to identify a person

Medical certificate

Doctor's finding that could bar admission

Mother tongue

Language spoken at home before emigrating

N.O.B.

Booked but did not sail

Naturalization examiner

Federal officer who questioned applicants for the judge

Naturalized

Made a citizen by legal process, not by birth

Nearest relative

Close kin left behind in the old country

Nonimmigrant

Alien admitted only for a temporary stay

Nonquota immigrant

Immigrant admitted outside the yearly country caps

Nonstatistical

Arrival not counted in the immigration figures

Oath of allegiance

Sworn loyalty pledge that completed naturalization

Old law

Made under pre-September 1906 naturalization rules

One-paper naturalization

Citizenship by petition alone, no first papers

Paper son

Chinese immigrant using a false family identity

Passenger list

Federal record of passengers arriving by ship

Passport application

Citizen's request to the State Department to travel

Petition for naturalization

Formal court request to be made a citizen

Picture bride

Woman married by photo exchange, then sent to the groom

Port of entry

Place where arrivals were officially inspected

Primary inspection

First quick check of every arrival on landing

Quarantine

Holding ships or people to stop spread of disease

Quota

Yearly cap on immigrants from each country

Race or people

Ethnic group column, apart from citizenship

Reentry permit

Paper letting a resident alien return from abroad

Registry file

After-the-fact arrival record under the 1929 law

Renounce allegiance

Formally give up loyalty to a former ruler

Repatriation

Former citizen regaining lost U.S. citizenship

Second papers

Everyday name for the petition for naturalization

Section 6 certificate

Entry paper for exempt Chinese merchants or students

Special inquiry

Held for a hearing on whether to admit

St. Albans lists

U.S. records of arrivals via Canada, 1895 to 1954

Steerage

Cheapest below-deck class on an immigrant ship

Trachoma

Eye infection, a top medical cause of exclusion

USB

Born in the United States (passenger list note)

USC

U.S. citizen (passenger list note)

V/L

Later check of an arrival record, noted on the list

Visa file

1924 to 1944 arrival file with visa and photo

War bride

Serviceman's foreign wife admitted after the war

Whether ever before in the United States

Earlier stay in the U.S., with years and place

Whether in possession of $50

Money the arrival carried, asked as $50 or less

Year of immigration

Census column: year a foreign-born person arrived

Year of naturalization

1920 census column: year final papers were issued