Request for international movement records from countries outside Australia

[tom357]

Hi everyone,

Another question on a similar but not identical theme to my previous thread here and this one posted by RooFlyer here.

For family research purposes, I'm interested to know my movements to various countries (arrival and departure), and would also like to research where my parents have been, as these records are even more sparse than mine. I have a record of every flight I've ever booked myself from about 2012 onwards, but any family trips (say before 2008) and so on aren't so clear.

The Australian Government appears to make finding this information an easy process per the threads mentioned above, but it's not so obvious with other countries.

Obtaining international movement records (outside of Australia)

Here I am with research so far:

USA: Last five years of records are available here: I94 - Official Website. This is fine for trips I undertook in 2017 and 2019 (for which I have records for anyway) but not sure what info they hold for trips prior to this. I have sent the department an email to do with a trip I took in 2004 and will see if they come back to me.

UK: This is where I come from, so I'm not entirely sure I can use this resource: Request personal information held in the borders, immigration and citizenship system. I have emailed them to see what information is available.

Germany/Spain/France: I can't find any information on how to access travel records for these countries or whether this is even the sort of stuff they would retain.

If anyone has had any cause to look for records such as these I'd be really interested.

Thank you

 

[trippin_the_rift]

I obtained my movements in/out of Malaysia and it was a nightmare. Physical visits to immigration offices with all sorts of documentation.

The bigger question here is, should children (or anyone) be permitted to obtain entry/exit records from countries their parents visited?

It's similar to Facebook handing over all your data to your kids when you move on. I don't like it.

 

[tom357]

I'd add that my parents are still alive and I'd only be doing this with their say-so.

 

[VPS]

Interesting info - good luck and let us know how you get on

 

[ajd]

I currently have a FOIA open with CBP regarding the one and only trip I've made to the US, which was about a decade ago, mostly to see what information they still keep on me.

One other thing worth noting is that depending on the country, historical immigration records older than a certain time period may be accessible via the relevant archives authority, rather than through the immigration service.

(In Australia, the NAA will happily give you entry and exit records, including database print outs and microfilmed passenger cards, that are older than 20 years. Obviously most people looking for this are doing it for family history, but if you can provide them with enough details, access to archival records isn't limited to family members as such...)

 

[ajd]

I obtained my movements in/out of Malaysia and it was a nightmare. Physical visits to immigration offices with all sorts of documentation.

I'd be interested to know what the process is for this, as a part-Malaysian...

 

[trippin_the_rift]

I'd be interested to know what the process is for this, as a part-Malaysian...

1. Fill out a form
2. Tell them why you need the records (some reasons I'm told attract a fee...)
3. Supporting letter to back-up claims in point (2). In my case I needed a letter from my employer.
4. Photocopy of every page in my passport. Even the blank pages
5. Spend forever trying to navigate around immigration office as staff bounce u around from one area to the next
6. Sign another form
7. Come back 7-10 days later and check if it's processed (there is no email or phone calls allowed to check - you must go in person)
8. If its processed, your inbound/outbound records that look like they print-screened on windows95 software
9. If not processed, come back later when it might be completed and try your luck again

Anything related to government in Malaysia is SLOWWWWWW. Painfully slow.

 

[tom357]

I currently have a FOIA open with CBP regarding the one and only trip I've made to the US, which was about a decade ago, mostly to see what information they still keep on me.

One other thing worth noting is that depending on the country, historical immigration records older than a certain time period may be accessible via the relevant archives authority, rather than through the immigration service.

(In Australia, the NAA will happily give you entry and exit records, including database print outs and microfilmed passenger cards, that are older than 20 years. Obviously most people looking for this are doing it for family history, but if you can provide them with enough details, access to archival records isn't limited to family members as such...)

Hi ajd, that's pretty much the same reason why I requested this info from the US.

Does NAA require a fee for this ajd? How does this work? Do you have to know the exact year that the first flight to Australia happened?

An update in my enquiries:

I'm still waiting to hear back on my travel information from the following countries:

USA: FOIA request sent to US Gov on 15 May.

UK: Subject Access Request sent to UKVI on 24 May.

Interestingly, contacts from French, German and Spanish embassies indicated that they don't hold this sort of information.

 

[ontheaisle]

Interestingly, contacts from French, German and Spanish embassies indicated that they don't hold this sort of information.

I wonder if their governments actually don't hold it or they just don't make it available? It seems strange to me in this day and age that they wouldn't have it at all.

 

[henrus]

I wonder if their governments actually don't hold it or they just don't make it available? It seems strange to me in this day and age that they wouldn't have it at all.

The answer is most EU countries will struggle to provide these details...

I've visited EU countries even in the last 12 months and they haven't scanned my passport at all, just a visual inspection of the photo page then a stamp. All of this will change in the next year when all schengen countries finally link the processing systems.