Identify município, state and event. Family records may belong to a cartório, parish or local archive.
Prepare your research
Município, state, period, full name, parentage and file type.
The method, step by step
- Arquivo Nacional guides federal collections and foreigner files. Read collection criteria before searching.
- Record SIAN references and image availability. For a focused enquiry prepare full name, known parentage and registration place.
- Connect arrival with records in the departure country. Retain every name element and separate arrival, registration and naturalisation dates.
Choose the right repository
Arquivo Nacional handles its federal collections. For a local birth, marriage or death identify the relevant cartório, parish or archive separately.
Choose a route from the record you have
- Separate ship arrival, foreigner registration and naturalisation. Arquivo Nacional’s FAQ treats them separately; not every migrant has a naturalisation file.
- Prepare full name, parents, registration city and, for arrival, ship, port and dates. Compare spellings without treating one variation as a different person.
Find archives
Arquivo Nacional — Brasil →
Official guidance to Brazilian federal archival collections.
The national catalogue does not replace local registers.
Sources & references
- Arquivo Nacional — Brasil ↗ (Resource review date : )