This digital collection consists of a selection of naturalization records found in the Library of Virginia’s archival collections. It does not represent all of Virginia’s naturalization records, nor does it contain all naturalization records held by the Library of Virginia.
The majority of records in this digital collection were filed in Virginia’s county and city courts. These records are divided between two time periods: 1776–1905 and 1906–1952.
Naturalization records from both periods often contain detailed information about individuals applying for citizenship. This information may include a person's name, place of birth, date of birth, age, country of previous citizenship, date and place of departure, method of arrival (such as the name of a ship), date and place of arrival, and names of spouses and children.
Naturalization records found in this collection typically include:
Declarations of intent
Record the applicant's name, place of birth, age, country of previous citizenship, renunciation of allegiance and fidelity to the nation of which the person is currently a citizen, and the date the intention was sworn.
Notices of application for admission of citizenship
Reports for naturalization
Narrative accounts made by applicants summarizing their journey to the United States.
Affidavits
Filed with naturalization declarations and reports. Affidavits were given by individuals who knew the applicant and could vouch for their loyalty to the United States.
For a complete list of dates and localities included in the Naturalization Records Digital Collection, visit the Digital Availability page.
This digital collection represents only a small portion of naturalization records held at the Library of Virginia. An even greater portion of Virginia’s naturalization records are held by other agencies. See Related Resources to learn more about naturalization records not included in this collection.
Between 1776 and 1790, Virginia's naturalizations were recorded in county or city courts. Beginning in 1790, naturalizations could be recorded in any “court of record”—federal, state, county, or city. These records were not standardized, and their contents varied depending on the date, location, and court at which an applicant filed for citizenship.
Beginning in 1906, the federal government standardized the naturalization process, issuing bound volumes that contained standard naturalization forms. These bound volumes were kept by the various courts of record, and copies of records were sent on to the federal government.
In addition to these bound volumes, some loose paperwork was kept by courts, including standardized forms such as Facts for Declaration of Intention and Facts for Petition for Naturalization, affidavits for issuing new naturalization papers in lieu of papers that were lost or destroyed, and correspondence between the Federal Naturalization Bureau and the clerk of court regarding individuals' naturalization processes.
Select a locality or localities from the list found under Coverage. Filters only display the top 25 results. If a locality does not display as a filter, try including desired locality as an additional search term.
The localities listed in the digital collection search results do not represent all of the localities in Virginia that have naturalization records, and search results for a locality do not represent the full extent of the naturalization records that exist for that locality. Visit Digital Availability to learn more about localities available through the digital collection.
To narrow results by date when records were filed, enter the desired date range into the From and To text fields located under Publication Date, then click Refine. Results cannot be narrowed by date of arrival at this time.
The full extent of Virginia’s naturalization records has not been digitized, and additional records for your desired time range can be found by consulting resources outside of the digital collection. Visit Naturalization Records for Virginians to learn more about the best sources of naturalization records for your time period of interest.
Select the Legislative Petitions Digital Collection option under the Collections filter to narrow down your search results to only legislative petitions.
To explore an item, you can go directly to the digitized record by clicking on the Available Online link.
You can choose to view the record details for an item by clicking on the title. In the record view, you can find a link to the finding aid which provides a more detailed description of naturalization records available for the locality at the Library of Virginia.
If the individual you are looking for is not in the Naturalization Records Digital Collection, additional resources exist:
Major sources of naturalization records beyond the digital collection: