hockey7711

I know that I qualify for it. The question is does any one know the easiest was to get it done? Are the services I have seen online any good?

ajax

Which citizenship do you have and which are you interested in applying for?

YVR Cockroach

Get the supporting documentation and do it yourself.

GUWonder

Go through the Italian consulate/embassy in the US and do it yourself. The services that people use to do this thing sometimes have to repeatedly get you to do the work anyway in order to go through the process.

hockey7711

I have US, and I am seeking italian.

hockey7711

Is it possible to go to the embassy with the not-so-complete paperwork that I currently have and ask them what else I need to do, or should I have everything that I need done already?

Maybe they would know of some reputable translations services, etc?

bocastephen

There was a story some years ago about a Canadian citizen, born in Italy but who was taken to Canada as an infant, who when taking a trip to Italy as a young adult was deemed an Italian citizen and instantly conscripted into the military for compulsory service.

I don't know your age, but I would check carefully to make sure you're exempt from any unpleasant side requirements of Italian citizenship before signing up.

dg4255

There hasn't been conscription in Italy for many years now. The are no negatives to having the Italian passport. The benefits are HUGE. You are permitted to live, work, receive pension, and bring your family into ANY other EU country. Especially if you travel frequently to Europe, this means they just wave you past immigrations upon flashing the burgundy passport, versus having to stand in a line and go through processing with your US passport. Once you have your Italian passport, you can request a Carta d'Identita in the city where you "live". You don't really have to live there though. You can just request the card and put down whatever address you have in Italy (maybe a relative, etc). This card will be valid for you to travel anywhere within the EU and Schengen Zone (I state that carefully because there are now 4 countries that are NOT EU, but are in Schengen.. Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein). This means you can travel within the EU/Schengen without passport. Just flash the carta d'identita and that is sufficient.

The easiest way to go about it is through the local embassy or consulate in the US. I've heard from others that have done it, that it can take anywhere from 9 months to a year and a half for everything to go through. At least, that was the case with the consulates in SF and Chicago.

YVR Cockroach

How far back does your claim to Italian citizenship go? I'd imagine you at least need the birth certificates (or maybe just passports) of the ancestor(s) who came from Italy, and their marriage certificates and birth certificates of those who are descended from them to include you. Might be a PITA to chase down but worth it.

BTW, the previous Berlusconi government also set aside a number of seats in the Italian legislature for overseas Italians to elect representatives to (yes, Italians who have never been to Italy can vote in Italian elections).

That's true of a few other countries. Austria for one though it seems Austrian males not residing in Austria for any length of time are largely exempt, and can elect to do slightly-longer community service in lieu of military service.

hockey7711

I'm 50 so I don't think that matters!

I checked with the consulate at sfo, their appointments are booked until March 2010!

I just need to ask them, based on my family, if I really am qualified, but I can't wait that long just to ask them.

I know that my maternal grandmothers' father (my maternal great grandfather) never became a us citizen. My Gm and mother were born here before 1948. Would that work?

I am not sure if my maternal grandfather was naturalized. If he was, my understanding is that I can't go through him.

sipples

What you're asking about is Italian citizenship through jure sanguinis (right of birth). And, to be exact, you're talking about citizenship recognition, not naturalization. If you are indeed an Italian citizen through jure sanguinis, you would be applying merely for official recognition and registration of that status. In other words, you would be seeking certification for what you already innately possess.

You can go back as many generations as necessary. However, Italy was not united as a nation until March 17, 1861, so it was not possible for anyone to acquire Italian citizenship before that. It's OK for the original ancestor to be born before that, but he must have acquired Italian citizenship upon unification (i.e. not have died before March 17, 1861).

Women could not pass on Italian citizenship to their sons and daughters prior to January 1, 1948. (There are some recent court cases beginning to question that gender limitation, but that's the law at present.) Since you were born around 1958, if your mother was still qualified as an Italian citizen at your birth then you would be an Italian citizen. However, your mother was born before 1948, so if she is depending exclusively on her mother to pass Italian citizenship, that probably wouldn't work.

Because of the 1948 rule, and because you're trying to trace your Italian blood line through the maternal side well into the past, I think you might have a "broken chain." But there are some very good fora where you can ask others for advice about your situation. Here are a couple good ones:

http://www.italiancitizenship.freeforums.org
http://www.expattalk.com/eve
http://www.icgsmb.com

This Wikipedia article summarizes the basic rules:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_citizenship

There are some complexities, though. All you need is one unbroken chain. Many people research their family histories primarily or exclusively for historical interest, and sometimes you are surprised to discover new facts that lead to an unbroken chain, even if your first assumption is otherwise.

You can also send me a private message with more details on your ancestors, and I would be happy to offer an opinion. No, I don't run a business or charge money for that.

It's also probably worth mentioning that Italy is not the only country with jure sanguinis citizenship laws. There are a few others with fairly reasonable laws, including Ireland, Romania, Serbia, and Spain. For example, if you have a grandparent who was/is an Irish citizen, it is quite straightforward to obtain Irish citizenship.

You should also be aware of a few possible negatives to acquiring citizenship (or even citizenship recognition) with another country. You might lose your citizenship in the original country. (That's not generally the case if you're a U.S. citizen; the U.S. tolerates dual citizenship but doesn't encourage it.) Even if you are a dual citizen, both governments may be reluctant to grant you a security clearance, and that could hamper any career with an intelligence service or defense-related industry. Some countries may have military service obligations (although at your particular age, that's extremely unlikely). There are possible tax complications. Certain countries (including Italy) require its citizens to report all significant life events, including changes in residence, to their home registry, which is a slight burden I suppose.

All that said, many people do obtain dual citizenship (recognition). U.S.+Italian is a common one, and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages for most people. It generally takes a fair amount of effort and time, though.

sipples

State pensions are not available unless you pay into the Italian state pension system, much like U.S. Social Security. In fact, it's rather hard to qualify since you have to pay into the Italian system for quite some number of years. However, the U.S. and Italy have an agreement which allows certain pooling rights. That is, if you pay some into each system (working some in the U.S. and some in Italy, for example), then benefits can be calculated based on total contributions across the two countries. There are lots of caveats and conditions, though.

Yes, that's true, but an Italian passport also still works just fine for that purpose, so the Carta d'Identita probably is not of any particular, unique benefit outside Italy.

Note that Italian passports require an annual tax, called a marca da bollo per passaporto, if you use one to enter or exit Italy. (As you must if you have one; it is illegal for Italian citizens to enter Italy using another passport. This is the same as the U.S. and most other countries.) This annual tax is approximately $50 or $60, depending on the exchange rate. You can buy marca da bollo per passaporto at Italian tobacco shops and the like, or at Italian embassies and consulates abroad.

Time from start to finish is highly variable. A lot of the time is spent simply gathering the necessary records, in the proper forms. Some consulates have extreme backlogs. Some cases are more complex than others, requiring additional documentation.

One thing to be aware of is that Italian embassies and consulates have very strict jurisdictional rules. You cannot file just anywhere. You must prove residence in the jurisdiction of the embassy or consulate where you file your application. A U.S. driver's license is acceptable proof to Italy's U.S. embassy and consulates, for example. Each consulate's Web site indicates their jurisdiction. For example, the Boston consulate serves all New England states except Connecticut.

Some people have been known to take up residence and apply in Italy, and it is possible (although perhaps expensive) to do that. There is a special Italian residency permit available to citizenship applicants in that case.

onlyquestions

It was a relatively quick process once I gathered all of the necessary paperwork together. But that was a three year endeavor on its own.

My mother was still an Italian citizen when I was born (here in the U.S.), so I did not have to trace back very far (although my paternal grandparents were also born in Italy, so I had plenty of options). Although it would have been much easier if my parents had simply registered my birth with the Italian consulate...but they did not because of the compulsory military service for all male citizens.

I waited until 2007 to begin the process, because that is when military service became completely voluntary. Unfortunately, while gathering all of the documents required for the application for citizenship, I discovered that my mother had lost one of the documents -- her U.S. naturalization docs! It took nearly THREE YEARS for the U.S. government to send a replacement naturalization certificate.

The only other obstacle I faced was gathering all of my life event documents (the Italian government wants to know EVERYTHING): marriage, children, divorce, etc. and getting them all translated (yes a 100-page divorce decree is EXPENSIVE )

Once I submitted the docs to the SF consulate, it took about 4 months before I received a letter from the commune acknowledging my Italian citizenship. I then scheduled an appointment to return to the consulate with the letter, the passport application and customary photos plus $110 or so. (The first passport MUST be applied for in person -- renewals can be done by mail). They processed the application, processed my fingerprints, and issued the passport within 45 minutes. It was quite smooth

My recommendation: read the website VERY carefully to make sure that you get all of the documents that you need to establish jure sanguinis (birthright citizenship). Make a checklist. And don't get discouraged - perseverance is critical to complete this process.

Buona fortuna!

jddalove

yes

GUWonder

Italian-Argentine friends of mine had Italian grandmothers -- some of who can or could only speak Italian even after a long life in Buenos Aires -- but weren't able to get Italian citizenship via their maternal-side grandmothers or great-grandmothers. The inability to get Italian citizenship by descent had something to do with which year their parents and/or grandparents or great-grandparents were born to an Italian parent -- something about being born a bit too early relative to a change in Italian law about citizenship. [1948 seems to have been one of the cut-offs.]

There is probably some kind of line tool that works reasonably reliably to understand what the situation is based on genealogy. Something maybe like the following.

http://www.myitaliancitizenship.com/...ification.html