Border Entry, Form 30, 1919-1924

 

About the records

Before 1908, people were able to move freely across the border from the United States into Canada. Beginning in that year, entry ports were established along the border. From 1908 to 1918, and from 1925 to 1935, border entry records were compiled in a list format to record the names of immigrants.

From January 1, 1919 to December 31, 1924, the Department of Immigration and Colonization required that individual forms (Form 30) be completed and submitted to the immigration officers at border ports, instead of the large sheet border-entry lists previously in use. A form was submitted for each individual, including children and some returning Canadians; however, the names of accompanying dependents were sometimes listed on the back of the head-of-household's form.

The Form 30 records were transferred to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) by Citizenship and Immigration Canada in 1997. The microfilm reels were produced by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration during the 1950s and 1960s. The originals were destroyed after the microfilming. The forms completed by admitted immigrants comprise 96 reels. Only one reel of forms for those rejected at the border was retained (T-15345).

Please note that the border entry records are only about 50% complete. Not all immigrants crossed the border at official ports, or, if the port was closed at the time, they would have entered the country without being registered. Also, many families were not registered because the parents had been born in Canada or had previously resided in Canada, and were considered to be returning Canadians, not immigrants.

The use of Form 30 was discontinued as of January 1, 1925. From that date, the use of large sheet lists was reinstated, although some Form 30 records dated after 1924 appear in this series, in particular for January, February and March of 1925.

Each Form 30 usually included the following details:

  • port and date of entry;
  • name;
  • age;
  • occupation;
  • birthplace;
  • race;
  • citizenship;
  • religion;
  • last permanent address; and
  • destination.

How the records are arranged on the microfilm reels

The Form 30 records were microfilmed in quasi-alphabetical order. For each letter of the alphabet, surnames are arranged in groupings based on the initial letters of each name. For example, surnames starting with Ada, Adc and Add are grouped together starting with given names beginning with A. Such a grouping could include the following arrangement of forms:

Anne Adair, Benjamin Adcock, Christopher Addison, David Adair, etc.

Other examples:

  • Johann Wurmlinger, Kaarlo Wutala, Katarzyna Wusik, Ulrich Wurzer
  • Giovanni Lemmetti, Joseph Lemoigne, Margaret Lemon, Yvonne Lemoine
  • Adam Downey, Alexander Dow, Ann Dowd, Arthur Downes

Some of the more common surnames, such as Smith, Adams, MacLeod and Bennett, are grouped separately.

The microfilm reels have been digitized and the images appear in the same order as on the microfilm reels. You can browse through the images as you would through a microfilm reel. You can move through the images one by one, or skip ahead by entering a new page number in the page navigation box. The records are not searchable by name.

For more information about the Form 30 records, consult the archival description.

Important Note

When consulting the Form 30 records, be aware that in most cases each form was microfilmed with the back side first, followed by the front of the form.

Form 30: Bernier Anna, 1923
 

Please note that spelling variations of names were common before the mid-1900s. Many names were written phonetically, as they sounded to the person recording them.

How to Obtain Copies

You can easily print the images or save the images on your own computer.

Use the following link for other options such as borrowing microfilm.

How to Access Library and Archives Canada Records

Other Resources

Other archival immigration records exist. Consult our Genealogy and Family History page on What to Search - Topics: Immigration and Citizenship for more information about those records.

List of content of microfilm reels

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