Vancouver, Elenchi dei passeggeri della British Columbia – Arrivi di cinesi, 1906-1912, 1929-1941

This database contains passenger lists of Chinese arriving by ship at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from January 3, 1906, to June 23, 1912 (excluding January 22, 1910, to January 20, 1912) and at Vancouver or Victoria, British Columbia from June 22, 1929, to January 10, 1941. The database contains records for over 13,000 Chinese passengers who were examined by U.S. immigration officials during this time period.

The records for 1906–1912 consist of two Immigration and Nationalization Service (INS) forms: Form 1418, Manifest of Chinese Passengers; and Form 500-B, List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United States Immigration Officer at the Port of Arrival. Only Form 500-B is available for 1929–1941.

The records can be searched by:

• Name


• Gender


• Birth date and location


• Year of Arrival


• Port of departure


• Port of final destination


• Ship


• Last place of residence

The forms may also provide the passenger's age, marital status, physical description, occupation, citizenship (nationality), and next of kin. Form 1418 includes additional information on passengers according to several categories: laborers, domiciled merchants and their wives and minor children, Chinese who had been born in the U.S., transits (passengers traveling through the U.S. to foreign destinations), and exempts (passengers exempt from provisions of the Chinese Exclusion Act and other laws and treaties).

Historical Background:

The Chinese passengers were examined by U.S. immigration officials in Vancouver or Victoria prior to entering the United States. Only those Chinese who intended to enter the U.S. permanently or in transit to a foreign destination were inspected at the Canadian port of arrival. The ship passenger forms were provided to the Immigration and Naturalization Service by shipmasters, and were usually filled out by the bursar or senior steward.

To learn more about researching passenger records, consult John P. Colletta’s book, They Came In Ships (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1993).