Throughout the 19th century, U.S. law provided that individuals could be naturalized by any federal court or any state “court of record.” The law changed in 1906, when the naturalization process came under the control of the newly established Immigration and Naturalization Service. Although in some states naturalizations continued to be granted in state courts, in New Orleans, naturalizations after 1906 took place only in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans.  Researchers seeking copies of naturalization certificates post 1906 should contact US Citizenship and Immigration Services directly.

The Archives holds naturalization records (and/or indexing) for Orleans Parish civil and criminal courts for the period 1828-1906 and from the federal court in New Orleans for the period 1811-1985. Pre- 1906 indexing includes references to naturalizations granted in parishes other than Orleans and to counties in Mississippi, but copies of those records must be obtained from the courthouse of individual parishes/counties.