Naturalization Records at the National Archives at New York City

• Our Holdings 
• Online Indexes and Records
• Records and Indexes on Microfilm

Our Holdings 

Online Indexes and Records

You can use the following sites to search indexes to some of our naturalization records. If you find a record and want to obtain a copy of it, please follow the procedures outlined in our naturalization records page.

Free sites

Online indexes are available at the web sites of the German Genealogy Group and the Italian Genealogical Group. These sites are free and can be accessed from anywhere. They also provide indexes to New York area naturalizations held by other repositories and information on how to obtain copies.

Select petitions for naturalization can be found online as well.  FamilySearch currently provides access to some petitions for naturalization, declarations of intention, and other naturalization records in our holdings. Please see the table above for information about which records are available and to link directly to the databases that maintain the records.

Subscription required

Ancestry and Fold3 (formerly Footnote) have online indexes to some of our naturalization records. They also have indexes to naturalizations held by other National Archives regional offices and many other repositories, so please read the descriptive information for the databases you search on these sites to determine where any records you find are located.

These sites require a subscription, but they are available for free public use at any National Archives research facility. They may also be available at your local library.

Ancestry has put the following indexes online. The names of the databases are in italics, and they are located in Ancestry's Immigration Collection:

• New York Petitions for Naturalization contains National Archives microfilm publication M1674: Soundex Index to Petitions for Naturalizations Filed in Federal, State, and Local Courts in New York City, 1792-1906 plus additional naturalizations filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York up to 1989
• U.S. Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794-1995 includes National Archives microfilm publications M1676: Alphabetical Index to Petitions for Naturalization of the U.S. District Court [and Circuit Court] for the Southern District of New York, 1824-1941; and M1164: Index to the Naturalization Petitions of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1865-1957
• New York Southern District Court, Korean War Military Naturalization Index, 1950-1955
• New York Southern District, World War II Military Naturalization Index, 1941-1946

Fold3 (formerly Footnote) has put several of our microfilm series pertaining to naturalization records online. See the next section on Records and indexes on microfilm for details.

Petitions for naturalization filed through Federal, state, and local New York City courts prior to October 1906 have been digitized and are now available on Ancestry.  The database is titled, New York, State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1940. 

Records and Indexes on Microfilm

The following microfilm publications are available for free public use at our facility. Copies on our self-service machines are 40 cents per page. To read more about these microfilm series, including information on where you can view them (in addition to our facility in New York) and how you can order copies (of entire rolls, not individual pages), please see the National Archives online Microfilm Catalog.

Naturalization records on microfilm/online

The two microfilm publications listed below can be accessed online through Fold3. Please note that the work to put these online may not be complete. These microfilm publications are available in their entirety for research at our facility.

• M1879: Eastern District of New York Petitions for Naturalization, 1865-1937
• M1972: Southern District of New York Petitions for Naturalization, 1897-1944

Indexes on microfilm/online

The six publications listed below pertaining to indexes only (M1164, M1674, M1675, M1676, M1677, and M1952) can be accessed online through Fold3 (formerly Footnote). They are also available for research at our facility.

• M1164: Index to the Naturalization Petitions of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1865-1957
• M1674: Soundex Index to Petitions for Naturalizations Filed in Federal, State, and Local Courts in New York City, 1792-1906
• M1675: Alphabetical Index to Declarations of Intention of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1917-1950
• M1676: Alphabetical Index to Petitions for Naturalization of the U.S. District Court [and Circuit Court] for the Southern District of New York, 1824-1941
• M1677: Alphabetical Index to Petitions for Naturalizations of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, 1903-1966
• M1952: Index cards for locating naturalization records for soldiers serving in the US Armed Forces during World War I, specifically the year 1918 (please read the descriptive information for this microfilm publication, which is available through Fold3 or the National Archives online Microfilm Catalog, to determine where a specific record you may find in this index is located; they are not all New York/New Jersey or Federal court naturalizations)