design dyke

You’ll hear it from anyone who has done it: gathering all of the appropriate documents can be a total pain in the ass.  Some people hire private services or attorneys to do a lot of the legwork, but I chose to do it myself.  One, I didn’t have the extra budget to hire someone and two, I’m incredibly stubborn and didn’t want to admit it was too much for me to do myself.  I know quite a few people who have hired attorneys and had great experiences, though, and when you add up the price of the documents, apostilles and translations, sometimes its not such a bad deal.

My posts are specifically regarding attaining Italian-American dual citizenship by descent. The first step, of course, is to determine if you're eligible or not.  Generally, if your Italian ancestor (the Consulate websites only list going back to a great-grandparent; I’m not sure if you’d be eligible if your ancestor is more distant than that) gave birth to the next person in your Italian line before giving up their Italian citizenship (which they would have done if / when they “naturalized” to become an American citizen), their Italian citizenship passed on to their children and down through the Italian line to you.  

The documents required may vary slightly by Consulate, so be sure you check and re-check the website for the Italian consulate that oversees the area you live in - you MUST go to the Consulate that oversees your official residence; you can’t choose which Consulate to apply to!  Consulates can be found in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Fransisco.  The smaller offices cannot process dual citizenship; it must be a General Consulate.  

I swear the documents listed on the site changed at least twice while I was gathering them, so I took the “the-more-the-better” approach.  The documents marked “Italian Line” are the ones that would determine my eligibility for citizenship; the ones marked “Non-Italian Line” were the spouses that shouldn’t affect my claim.

The documents I gathered to request Italian citizenship through my maternal great-grandfather were:

1) My great-grandfather’s birth certificate from Italy (which I had just happened to get while visiting his village last year) - Italian Line

2) A letter from the county of my great-grandmother’s birth stating that they did not require birth certificates before 1907, thus one was not on file for her. - Non-Italian Line

3) My great-grandparents’ marriage certificate.  - Italian Line

4) My grandmother’s birth certificate.  - Italian Line

5) My great-grandfather’s naturalization certificate. - Italian Line

6) My great-grandfather’s death certificate. - Italian Line

7) My great-grandmother’s death certificate. - Non-Italian Line

8) My grandfather’s “Certificate of No Record”, stating he does not have a birth certificate on file. - Non-Italian Line

9) My grandparents’ marriage certificate. - Italian Line

10) My mother’s birth certificate. - Italian Line

11) My grandmother’s death certificate. - Italian Line

12) My grandfather’s death certificate. - Non-Italian Line

13) My dad’s birth certificate. - Non-Italian Line

14) My parents’ marriage certificate. - Italian Line

15) My birth certificate.

All certificates had to be “official documents”, not copies, and in the “long form” (some death certificates give you the option of long or short form, stating cause of death or not).  I paid around $20 for most of the documents and most of them could be collected from VitalCheck, an online service.  For a few (like my great-grandmother’s letter -#2 and my grandparents’ & great-grandparents’ marriage certificates), I had to call the county clerk’s office and ask for instructions on requesting them).  

Gathering the documents was only the first step, though.

Step 2 - 

Every document except the naturalization certificate and my great-grandfather’s birth certificate needed an apostille.  I had never heard of an apostille before this; it’s basically like an internationally-recognized notary stamp, but it comes as a separate document attached to the original.  In order to get an apostille, you have to submit it to the Office of the Secretary of State for the state in which the document was issued.  Each state has their own process, fees and requirements for the request, so be sure to look up each state specifically and follow their instructions exactly.  It’s easy, it just takes a lot of attention to detail.  I paid between $0 & $10 for each apostille (plus a self-addressed stamped envelope).  

All certificates that were not in Italian (which meant all of them, except for my great-grandfather’s birth certificate) had to be translated into Italian.  Every word on the document had to be translated, including the text on the bottom or back that said something like “This document is printed on watermarked paper”.  It was also recommended by the Consulate that the translations be formatted as closely to the original as possible (which meant LOTS of time sitting in front of the computer).  **The naturalization certificate did not have to be translated.  Apostilles did not need to be translated.  Please be sure to get a native Italian speaker or professional translator (each Consulate has a list available, too).  Just like in English, there are certain ways to translate forms that make sense and others that don’t (for instance, in the reverse situation, if someone was translating a form into English and put “Boy or Girl” instead of “Male or Female” on a death certificate, it would make sense but it wouldn’t be correct).  Translators usually charge by the page, anywhere from $20-$50 per hour.

I got all of my documents and apostilles fairly quickly; it was the naturalization document that kept me waiting.  I had requested it from US Citizenship & Immigration Services after finding a copy of my great-grandfather's request to naturalize in our family archives.  The request listed the certificate number, which I then used to order a copy of the official document.  To expedite the process as much as possible, I wrote “Dual Citz-Natz Certificate Only” on the application, which told the department they didn’t need to get permission from all of my great-grandfather’s descendants before sending it.  

Note: Applicants for dual Italian citizenship are not required to provide certified copies of naturalization certificates obtained from USCIS.  Rather, the applicant must present the photocopy of the naturalization certificate along with the USCIS Genealogy Program response letter and mailing envelope.  This is what you will receive when you request an “official” copy.  Don’t freak out (like I did), when a photocopy comes in the mail, and do remember to bring the envelope!

While I was waiting for the naturalization certificate to arrive, I made a list of all discrepancies of names and dates on the documents and sent it in an email to the consulate.  Luckily, mine were minor and mostly on the Non-Italian Line, so the Consulate told me I didn’t need to have any of the documents officially changed (which would’ve been a whole other process!).  

Finally, the naturalization document came in, my translations were done, I had filled out (and had my mother fill out) the declaration forms stating we had never given up Italian citizenship (those also have to be notarized by a US notary) and filled out the application.  I got my money order for the appropriate amount (around $390) and was ready for my appointment!

I did it! I finally did it!  I applied for Italian Dual Citizenship!

I know you’re probably thinking one of two things: How? Why?

The How:

By Descent.  My great grandfather was born in Italy and didn’t naturalize to become an American citizen until after my grandmother was born, which meant that his Italian citizenship (although unrecognized at the time) actually passed on to her.  Because she never actively gave it up, it also passed on to my mother and then to me.  

In order to prove all of this happened I had to gather a long list of official documents - birth, marriage and death certificates, my great-grandfather’s naturalization certificate and several others (in my case it got a little complicated, but we’ll get more into the documents later) - get an apostille (a kind of internationally recognized notary) for each one, and then have the ones that were in English translated into Italian.

Then I had to make an appointment at the Italian Consulate of Los Angeles for someone to review my documents and any discrepancies.  After that, I’ll have to wait for them to process everything before I can get an Italian passport and officially be considered an Italian citizen.

The Why: this is more complicated.

People get Italian dual citizenship for a variety of reasons, but as I’ve met more and more people with the status I’ve realized that for a lot of them it is purely sentimental.  They feel like they are connecting to a family history and culture that may have been lost, somewhat, over the generations after their ancestors emigrated out of il bel paease.  When someone officially recognizes their “forgotten” Italian citizenship, that citizenship is then “officially” passed on to their children, and their children’s children.  When a child is born - whether in Italy or abroad - each Italian citizen has the obligation to report it so that no further generations are “lost”.

Others have said they have filed for Italian citizenship because they would like to live or buy vacation property in Italy at some point, something that is much easier if one is an Italian citizen (a lot less red tape).  If you do plan on living in Italy, you will probably be appreciative of the fact that as an Italian citizen you have the right to vote, to benefit from the Italian health and social systems (including unemployment, maternity and sick leave benefits), and access to Italy’s largely free education system.

Perhaps you’re a big investor and want to be able to invest in offshore mutual funds, securities and real estate without restriction, including Eurobonds, unit trusts and investment funds.

And of course, Italy is part of the European Union, allowing an Italian citizen to travel, live and work in any of the EU countries, not just in Italy. That’s what did it for me: being an Italian citizen will open up limitless overseas work opportunities, giving me the option of applying and securing a position in Europe, should I ever feel the time was right.  I have a deep love of history and culture and whenever I’ve been in Europe, I could feel the immense power of those who came before me in every building, piazza and field.  Being able to travel a short distance and experience a completely different culture with its own deep-rooted traditions is something that never stops thrilling me.  

The process of dual-citzenship can be a long one, but starting the process now means that if I decide that taking a job in Europe is the right thing for me to do, the biggest hurdle will already be conquered. I won’t have to worry about finding a company willing to sponsor a work visa and - for multi-national corporations - my ability to work and travel without restriction might even give me the leg up over other candidates when applying for a position.

Of course, there are always drawbacks to take into consideration; nothing is 100% perfect.  If I make large amounts of money there could be tax issues; there are tax agreements in place to prevent double taxation by either country, but it only holds up to a point.  If I were to ever seek a job in the US government, it may (or may not) be an issue or affect my security clearance.  If I don’t enter the US with my US passport or Italy with my Italian passport, I’ll be flagged after 90 days (good thing I’m organized).  If I get into legal trouble in Italy, the US government will not intervene because technically I’m in my home country; the same goes for the Italian government if I ever get in legal trouble in the US. There’s obviously a small monetary cost to maintaining two sets of documents - passport renewals, hiring the correct accountants to sort out taxes, etc.

No one knows what the future holds, of course, but I don’t foresee any of those things really becoming much of an issue for me, personally.  I can only make decisions with the information I have at hand, and that information tells me that the positives greatly outweigh the negatives.

So how did I do it? Where did I get the documents? How much did it cost? How long did it take?