ElementalMom

I recently made a comment on my Facebook page about our family being in the process of getting Italian citizenship. The number of questions we received about it, both online and off, told me it was time to blog about it. So la, here we go.

First, the how.

Italy, ever-gracious and unique among nations in bestowing it, says that if you are descended from someone who never renounced their citizenship, or if your ascendants were born before your Italian ancestor renounced their citizenship, then you can claim Italian citizenship. The process is called jure sanguinis. It’s just a matter of bringing the correct paperwork proving this to the Italian Consulate and getting them to approve it. “You are already Italian,” one website states, “we are merely formalizing it.”

Sounds simple, yes? No. We’ve been at this for nearly two years. Just getting an appointment at the Consulate in San Francisco can take years. And assembling the paperwork? Insane. Birth and marriage certificates proving the chain of descent, all with apostilles, all with Italian translations. Letters of explanation and correction for any irregularities — like the fact that Jason’s grandmother was married at least once before she married his ascendant grandfather, so I have to get the marriage certificates showing that name change, even though that marriage has nothing to do with the line of descent or of the application, it’s just to show why the name is different. And if the names still don’t match (and they might not; she was married nine times, and has lost track of a few), then I need to track the others down, too. Letters from various government agencies that record citizenship. Census bureaus, county courthouses, you name it. Bits and pieces, all verified, notarized, translated… the stack of paper in my office is over an inch thick at this point.

And that’s just for Jason and the kids. I’m not eligible. I have to wait until Jason is approved. Then we register our marriage in Italy. Then I can apply. That process, jure matrimonis, involves FBI background checks, fingerprints, and all kinds of other madness. But it’s probably years off, so I’m not freaking out about it just yet. Besides, between my jure matrimonis application and the awarding of their jure sanguinis application, is the application for all of their passports.

Technically, it should be Jason doing this, but ours is a marriage of differing skills, and after he took one look at the list of documents required and broke out in a sweat, we decided I should take the lead on this, and leave him to less daunting (to him) pursuits, like totally rebuilding the engines in the boat. Thank goodness I’m good with paper. Thank goodness also that one of Jason’s cousins, eligible through the same ascendant great-grandfather, has already been completely through the process and can hold my hand a bit when I freak out completely. Having his completed file as a reference for ours will most likely speed the process along a bit, which is big, since approval once the file is complete can also take years.

I mentioned above that everything must be translated into Italian. I found a lovely professional translator here in Berkeley, (more about her in a future post), who also told us “Italians are passionate people. Therefore, if you write a “love letter” to Italy and put that on top of your packet, it’ll help.” Can I just say, I love the idea that that matters? That pouring your heart out about why you care about this process is likely to sway them favorably? In my dealings with American functionaries, I’ve found emotion to be a liability, not an asset.

There are entire forums dedicated to helping people out with this process. You can find tales of woe, tales of success, and cautionary tales. It’s fascinating to see who is doing this, and why.

Next post, I’ll cover the why.

Related posts:

1. Becoming Italian — Paperwork
2. A Year in Italy
3. Becoming Italian — Why

Tags: becoming Italian, Citizenship, Italy, jure sanguinis