ELIGIBILITY SCENARIOS
Italian citizenship is based on the principle of “jure sanguinis” (latin for by law of the bloodline), by which a child born of an Italian parent is considered Italian. In other words, the descendant of an Italian citizen is already an Italian citizen by blood. The Italian citizenship recognition is regulated by Italian Law 91/1992 and Italian Law 55/1912, art. 7. An adult individual seeking to have his/her Italian citizenship recognized is required to submit evidence that everyone in his/her direct line of ascendants uninterruptedly maintained and never renounced their Italian citizenship.
In general, if you were born in the United States or in another country which granted you its citizenship at birth “jure soli” (by law of the soil), you may claim Italian citizenship by descent “jure sanguinis” (by law of the bloodline) and be considered an Italian citizen if your ancestors were Italians at the time of your birth.
Every law obviously has its exceptions that confirm the rules. It is therefore critical for every applicant to assess whether he/she is eligible to apply:
– Italy began to exist as a State on March 17th, 1861, when it was unified under the Kingdom of Italy.
If your ancestor was born before such date, you can claim citizenship from him/her only if he/she was alive when the Kingdom of Italy was established.
– Your Italian-born ancestor must not have naturalized before June 14th, 1912.
Ascendants who were naturalized U.S. (or other foreign country) citizens before such date, cannot transmit citizenship, even if their children were born prior to their naturalization, under Italian Law no. 555 of June 13th, 1912.
– Those Italian citizens who became U.S. citizens prior to August 1st, 1992 lost their Italian citizenship, under Italian Law 91/1992.
– Italian women were not granted the right to transmit their citizenship to their children until 1948.
Therefore, applicants who were born prior to January 1st, 1948, can claim Italian citizenship only from their paternal line.
– If your Italian ancestor was born in Veneto, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, or Trentino Alto Adige, in order to apply for the Italian citizenship, you must prove that he or she left Italy after July 16th, 1920.
Your Italian Citizenship Fairy has the knowledge, the expertise and the legal insight to help determine your eligibility scenarios.
Schedule your telephone consultation now and we’ll help you sort the intricacy of the applicable Italian laws and make a determination.
THE PROCESS
At Your Italian Citizenship Fairy we know that time is of the essence and you are excited about getting your Italian roots officially recognized.
Realistically though we recommend patience, focus and determination: the process to gather supporting documentation, prepare and submit the application, can take more than one year. And once the application is submitted, the Consulate can take up to 4 years’ time to vet it.
Some of the key steps are summarized below:
1- Obtaining your ancestor’s birth, marriage or death certificates from Italy using our services at Your Italian Citizenship Fairy can take up to 8 weeks.
2- Acquiring a certified copy of your Italian Ancestor’s U.S. (or other Country) Naturalization papers can take few months. If he or she was never naturalized, it may be necessary to perform some additional research in the Census Records and with the National Archives.
3- Obtaining all of your U.S. born ancestors vital records may take a 2-3 additional months, depending on the processing time each vital records office has in each State. Each state or local offices of vital statistics may have expediting services for additional processing fees.
4- Once you receive all necessary vital records, you will need to obtain an Apostille or legalizations for each document. This is usually obtained through the Secretary of State of the State where the document was issued. Time varies from State to State.
5- Any vital record and legal document issued in a foreign language (non Italian) must be translated. Certain Consulates require the translations to be legalized before submission of the application package.
6- After all above documents have been gathered in the correct forms and translations, and you have duly filled out Applications Forms 1,2,3,4, you will be able to make an appointment with the Italian Consulate competent for the area where you reside. Certain consulates online booking system have a wait time of a year or longer. We always recommend making your booking while you are still gathering your supporting documents, so as to minimize the wait time.
You can download a general jure-sanguinis application form from this link (though we recommend using the Consulate-specific form available on each Consulate’s website): Jure-sanguinis application form
For further guidance or information about becoming Italian, Italy and its culture, you can also refer to the resources available at this link: Resources
7- On the day of the appointment, you are required to appear in person. No third party can represent you. You will bring with you your U.S. passport, your driver’s license with current residential address, or a utility bill listing your residential address.
8- The Consular officer will preliminarily review your documents and interview you about your family history. Most Consulates now require all translations to be legalized before your appointment date: legalization is done by the Consular Office for a fee ranging from US$14 to US$17 per page, depending on the exchange rate. The Consular officer will then file your application and keep all of the original documents you submit. The application fee is Euro 350. Payment can only be done in U.S. currency (money order or cashier’s check), at the exchange rate published on the Consulate website at the time of the appointment. No documents will be returned, and no refunds will be given, regardless of the outcome of the application.
9- Starting from 5 October 2018 – pursuant to art. 14 of the D.L. 4 October 2018, n. 113, published in the G.U. n. 231 of 4 October 2018 – the deadline for defining the proceedings in progress referred to in Articles 5 and 9 is forty-eight (48) months from the date of submission of the application. The deadline for the conclusion of the proceedings for recognition of citizenship iure sanguinis is to be considered confirmed in 730 days also in cases of applications based on facts occurring before 1948. The vetting process may therefore take up to four years, during which the Consular officer has the faculty of requesting supplemental information if he/she deems it necessary.
10- If your application is approved, it will be made official via letter or e-mail once your vital records have successfully been registered in the Comune of your Italian ancestor’s birth.
11- Once you receive official, written confirmation of your citizenship, you contact your Consulate to apply for your Italian passport. Detailed instructions are available on each Consulate’s website, which you can access at this link: Consular Network.