Jure Sanguinis

Go Global

2008-06-11T00:22:00.003-04:00

PalmBeachPost.net recently posted an article about dual-citizenship that I thought was interesting.

As more and more US corporations go global, why not have more and more Americans go global? An estimated 40 million Americans are eligible for some form of dual-citizenship. The real question is: are you eligible?

ItalianDocs.com

2007-08-01T12:11:00.001-04:00

As I was compiling my documents from Italy, I used (and raved about) ICGS. ICGS has since been sold and is under new management/ownership, which in the past has had some issues. I believe most of those issues have been settled and that the site is better. One change that I did notice since the new management has taken over is the price has risen $13 to $55 from when I ordered my documents. I believe that is unreasonable, as is $125 for some other services.

This spring I started discussing with members of the Expats in Italy forum about starting a competing service at a reasonable price. Today, I would like to inform you that I am ready to start accepting orders for Vital Records (birth, marriage and death certificates) from Italy at my website, ItalianDocs.com.

I can be contacted at info@italiandocs.com.

Apply in Italy; sounds good to me!

2007-01-15T23:17:00.000-05:00

For some strange reason, I just discovered this link on Expats in Italy and am hoping it is the key to my Italian Citizenship. What it basically states is that you can apply for citizenship in Italy by presenting all the same documents you would show the local Consulate. The process also *seems* to be a lot faster if it is done in Italy, which is surprising to me.

I have decided to give applying for citizenship in Italy a shot since I'm about ready for a career change, love live in Italy, and wish to become more fluent in Italian. So at the end of February I will move to Italy, go to the Questura and get my permesso di soggiorno, then go to the Comune of whatever city I'm going to live in and present my documents to apply to citizenship, then I will bring a document from the Comune back to the Questura and hopefully get a permesso di soggiorno per attesa di cittadinanza, then I will go back to the Comune and give them my documents to apply for citizenship. In case you weren't counting that's going to be 2 trips to the Questura and 2 trips to the Comune. The permesso di soggiorno per attesa di cittadinanza will allow me to stay in Italy as I apply for citizenship. I believe the permesso will allow me to work a little bit (I hope so at least) and after about 6 months (on average, I believe) I should be a recognized citizen.

I'll post again when I know where I'm going and more details.

A presto!

Updates Galore

2006-07-25T12:17:00.001-04:00

I've been pretty busy since the last post with a trip to the Mass Vital Records office, a trip to Italy, and general laziness. I'll begin with the Mass Vital Records office and all the fun stuff that's been making my mind race.

In order to correct Massachusetts' error on my grandfather's birth certificate, I have to give them my only copy of my great-grandfather's birth certificate (which means I need to get another one from Italy), pay $18 for a copy of my grandfather's sister's birth certificate to prove that the last name stayed the same, pay $50 for the state to correct the record, and pay another $18 to get a corrected certified copy.

I need a copy of my great-grandfather's Certification of Naturalization, I only have the Declaration, which isn't enough. In order to get this I have to do a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) which, I believe, will take quite some time as I've seen "rumors on the internets" that the US Government is 60,000 requests behind. Hooray for bureaucracy!

On a happier note, I was in Italy for 2 weeks with my family (my parents, 2 sisters, and an aunt) playing tour guide. We went to Rome, Greve in Chianti, Florence, San Gimignano, Bologna, Venice, Cinque Terre, Pisa, and Torino. It was quite a whirlwind tour of the country and was probably a little too much, but I had an excellent time and can't wait to get back (for a much longer stay!) We rented apartments for a week in Greve in Chianti, a small town that was a 25 minute drive south of Florence on the S222 between Florence and Siena. We rented the apartments from Villa Prono and couldn't have been more pleased with our experience. Andrea, the owner, was very helpful telling us about Greve in Chianti and giving us a few recommendations about where to go in and around the area.

Our experience in Rome was quite memorable. We walked to the Vatican, Forum, Colosseum, Pantheon and over to the Spanish Steps. While in the Vatican we walked up to the top of the Dome of St. Peter's and had a breathtaking view of Rome and surrounding areas. I'll put links to a couple photo sites of mine down below so you can see what I'm talking about.

It's always nice to see Venice. I'm not a huge fan of Venice because it's so touristy, but some parts of the city (Piazza San Marco & the Waterfront) that no matter how crowded they may become are just great places to relax and take in all the history.

It was great being back in Torino. Walking around the covered sidewalks (arcades) gave me an immediate feeling of deja vu from 3 years ago when I studied in Torino. Showing my family where I lived, going to some of my favorite restaurants, and just walking around the city was an excellent way to wind down a busy vacation.

Ciao..

First Attempt

2006-05-09T21:13:00.000-04:00

I recently went to the newly located Italian Consulate at the Federal Reserve building across the street from South Station to find out if I have all the right stuff for my dual citizenship. I'm just about finished with all the paperwork gathering, I thought I was, but I was quite wrong.

There were a couple small issues with my documents. THE major issue is something I was a little bit concerned about in a recent post: my grandfather's last name being misspelled. I thought it wasn't going to be quite a big deal because there's enough evidence to show that the "official" document is wrong. Now since somebody spelled Caporale phonetically as "Caporelli," my mother and I need to go to the state's Vital Records office and present enough paperwork and show evidence that an 86 year old document is wrong. I can't wait.

Also, my great-grandparents' marriage certificate isn't certified, and that's a problem. And finally, there's a slight discrepancy with my mother's middle name being spelled as Ann on some documents, and Anne on another. I don't know, I just have to get it fixed.

When I told the gentleman at the Italian Consulate that these "errors" are going to be a little pricey to fix, he explained to me that Massachusetts' fees and taxes are ridiculous sometimes. I was quite surprised by this because I thought all European taxes were ridiculous compared to ours'. Oh well.

I'll probably finish soon after I return from my lovely Italian holiday. Rome, Florence, Greve in Chianti, San Gimignano, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Siena, Venice, Torino, and Rome one more time. I can't wait. I leave next Wednesday and return the 31st.

A presto

Wait for it...

2006-04-04T21:00:00.000-04:00

I should have my dual-citizenship by now, but my parents' birth certificates are tied up as they're getting their passports for our trip to Italy. I'm going to Italy from May 17th to May 31st. We are going to Rome, Florence, Venezia, around small towns in Tuscany, and back to Rome. We are staying in Greve in Chianti, outside of Florence for a week at a small Agriturismo place called Villa Prono. It's a wonderful location and we are going to rent a car to take some trips to San Gimignano, Pisa, Siena, Parma, and Cinque Terre (hopefully, I know that's being ambitious!)

I am looking forward to the trip, I just need to find the rest of the lodging, twice in Rome and 2 nights in Venice, lucky me! Once I get my parents' birth certificates, I'm going to make an appointment with the Italian Consulate the very next spot he has open.

Just wanted to throw up a little update, hopefully I'll have more in the coming days/weeks.

A presto...

Done and...

2006-03-07T19:50:00.000-05:00

...almost done!

I went to the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records & Statistics today to get all of the remaining records:

Great-grandfather's death certificate
Great-grandmother's death certificate
Grandfather's birth certificate
Grandmother's birth certificate
Grandparent's marriage certificate
Grandfather's death certificate
Grandmother's death certificate

It was relatively painless to get all these records. Since there were so many I needed, they asked that I do most of the research and go through the books to find out what Volume and Page the records were in. That took about 30 minutes and 15 minutes later I was holding all the paperwork I needed. I did have a little scare when I was in there. My grandfather's birth records weren't where they should have been. Someone misspelled his last name on his birth certificate as Caporelli and not Caporale (the correct spelling). I don't believe this will cause me any problems when I make my appointment to meet with the Consulate because I have a lot of other paperwork with the correct spelling and the same dates.

Knowing that citizenship is just that much closer to becoming a reality is quite relieving. I plan to go to the Consulate ASAP and see if anything else needs to be done. I'm sure something will come up, but I'm also sure I can deal with whatever that may be. I do have time, after all. I'm no longer looking to move to Italy once I get the citizenship. I was recently promoted within my organization and plan on staying there, building my resume and saving up for the big move.

Next step: Make an appointment at the Boston Consulate
Also: Plan my May trip to Italy (Roma, Firenze, Venezia, Torino, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Roma) ;-)

Blog I've enjoyed recently: Gia-Gina in Italy: American who moved to Torino with her husband. Some good Olympic writings. Pics & recipes, too.

The pieces are coming together

2006-02-07T18:49:00.000-05:00

I received my great-grandfather's birth certificate from Gissi, Italy yesterday evening!

Everything else I need I can get at the Massachusetts State Archive office sometime (soon!). The final step will be to make an appointment with the Italian Consulate to present all my paperwork and make sure nothing's missing. Hopefully soon after that, I'll have my dual-citizenship.

Updated checklist:

Great-grandfather's birth certificate (CHECK)
Great-grandmother's birth certificate (CHECK)
Great-grandparent's marriage certificate (CHECK)
Great-grandfather's naturalization record (CHECK)
Great-grandfather's death certificate
Great-grandmother's death certificate
Grandfather's birth certificate
Grandmother's birth certificate
Grandparent's marriage certificate
Grandfather's death certificate
Grandmother's death certificate
Father's birth certificate (CHECK)
Mother's birth certificate (CHECK)
Parent's marriage certificate (CHECK)
My birth certificate (CHECK)

7 documents remain. With all the paperwork coming in and the Olympics starting on Friday in Torino; I can easily say I'm getting very very excited about the possibility of moving over there.

Here are a few links I found the other day:

My apartment in Torino (It's on Via Giuseppe Mazzini between Via dell'Accademia Albertina and Via San Massimo)

My school in Torino (It's along Corso Unita d'Italia, off of Via Ventimiglia)

Piazza Castello (It's also where the Olympic Medal ceremonies will be)

Enjoy the views...

In the mail...

2006-02-03T10:15:00.001-05:00

It took exactly 3 months from the day I put my order in (though I still need to receive it), but here it is:

"Dear Rick,

We were able to locate the certificate you requested:

Birth - ALFREDO

We are mailing it tomorrow via USPS first class mail to the address you provided... It should arrive in two to three business days.

Feel free to contact us if you have any further questions concerning your order. Thanks again for your business!

Regards,
Italian Citizenship & Genealogy Services"

Cross another requirement off of my little checklist.

More to come...

Patience

2006-01-25T12:18:00.000-05:00

So I sent my initial request for my great-grandfather's birth records in Gissi through ICGS, a company based in California that retrieves vital records. That request was sent on November 2nd, 2005 and should be delivered "between 2 to 10 weeks," no surprise there. I inquired about the status around December 17th and received this email back:

Your order was placed on November 2. We sent your request to the vital records office of Gissi on November 4. We are currently awaiting a response from their office. Though ICGS contacts Italian vital records offices within a few days of your request, the response time varies from city to city. In most cases, we receive requested certificates in two to ten weeks. Thus, we should have your certificate sometime between now and mid January.

Fair enough, right? Right. They move slower over there and that's fine; hell, that's why I want to live over there!

So mid-January comes and I still haven't heard anything from ICGS, again, I write to my contact at ICGS on January 17th and receive this response:

Because we had received no response from their office after ten weeks, we called their office this morning to inquire about the cause of the delay. The vital records official with whom we spoke mentioned that she had found the record, and would go into the archives and issue the certificate as soon as possible.

So it's on the way. I'm expecting it within a few weeks (probably more like a month, but who knows). From there I'll make my trip to the Massachusetts State Archives for the rest of the missing pieces to my citizenship puzzle.

Patience is all it really takes.

The Pizza Pact

2005-11-28T00:05:00.000-05:00

According to Zoomata, Italians are going to their favorite pizzerias less and less because the cost of dining out is becoming too expensive. Because of the Euro, pizzas that would have cost €2-3 are now costing €5-7. I should note that a pizzeria I went to a few times in Torino "Pizzeria 7 Nani" still has prices from €3,50-7 on their website. Pizzerias throughout Italy are signing onto a "Il Patto della Pizza" (The Pizza Pact) where you can go to one of these participating pizzerias and get a pizza, beer or soda, and sometimes a coffee for €7-€7,50.

This national sense of outrage and unity reminds me of a story from last year where a man was charged €1 instead of his regular €0,77 for his cappuccino. The man was awarded the €0,23 and legal fees, but the price remained. I was both amused by the story because it's €0,23 cents but I was also touched by how much those €0,23 cents mean to millions of Italians. You have to figure they have about 3 cups of espresso or cappuccino (or both) every day, so for about every 3 cups they are currently ordering, they could have saved money for a 4th the next day, if you do the math, they're losing about €200 every year on coffee alone (using the prices in the article).

Is there an answer to this pizza problem? Why aren't Italians dining out more? To be quite honest, I don't know. The Italian economy, like most of the Euro-zone, has had problems since the Euro's inception. Inflation is among the highest in the Euro-zone and the economy's among the slowest growing in the zone. In my opinion, the country's reliance on mom & pops, though convenient and traditional, may be doing more harm than good as the country's youth may feel obliged to work with their parents as opposed to starting their own businesses and helping the economy grow. Something has to happen soon before the Italian economy gets left in the dust of the new EU countries and prices grow even higher.

I hope the Pizza Pact gets people thinking about the Italian economy and some change comes along in the near future.

A presto...

I vini...

2005-11-22T23:50:00.000-05:00

Of all the great memories I have from my semester in Italy, many of them involved a nice (and cheap!) bottle of wine and hanging out with good friends. Weeknights at a pizzeria, weekends at someone's apartment, and all the random times in between on a train or in a park; wine was something we all enjoyed, a conversation starter, and a delicious compliment to any meal.

I may have gone to my local wine shop 4 or 5 times to buy a nice bottle of wine. Most times you only need to go to the local market and you can get an excellent bottle of wine for under €5 as well as anything else you would need to go to a party. Other times, we went to the wine shop to get empty bottles filled with wine on tap for about €1.30 per gallon. You're thinking right now "GROSS," but the wine was actually really good. Any vino di tavola (house wine) you get in Italy is probably going to be good.

My favorite wines come from Piedmont, where Torino is the capital. Barolo, Barbaresco, and Nebbiolo sell for about $75 a bottle here, as opposed to a little cheaper over there. These wines are spectacular, full bodied, full flavored, and just a great experience. With the holidays coming up, splurging for a nice bottle for someone special would make a great gift, especially if they enjoy wine.

This entry's a little off topic from my others, as it has nothing to do with me getting my Italian Citizenship, and everything to do with my memories of wine from Italy. I think taking a Wine Tasting course at BCAE has reminded me of how much fun I had in Italy with friends and wine.

Next up... le pizze!

Back to it...

2005-11-02T19:40:00.000-05:00

After an unexpected, yet not surprising, hiatus from acquiring my Italian citizenship, I am finally back at it. Tonight I requested my great-grandfather's birth certificate from Gissi, Italy through My Italian Citizenship. It's not as fun as going over there and finding it myself, however it is a lot more cost effective.

So, what have I been up to? I started a new job last month working in grants, which I like. I figure I'll get some good experience here to put on my resume (plus save oodles of money) and then see where my travels take me. Ideally, I'd like to bring a business idea over to Italy so I can do things at my own pace, but realistically I'm going to have to find myself a job over there...

...but first thing's first. I need that citizenship!

The €64,000 Question...

2005-09-05T00:40:00.000-04:00

The question I want answered ASAP...

How long will this process take?

I have read numerous forums and sites about people getting dual citizenship in Italy through Jure Sanguinis and they're consistently inconsistent. I have heard timeframes from two weeks to a year. The deciding factor in my case will be obtaining my great-grandfather's birth certificate from Italy. I have decided to go through an agency instead of an individual only because I will be able to track progress and for me, there will be a greater sense of responsibility. Nothing against the gentleman who offered to help, very kind of him.

Once I get that birth certificate, I just need to make an appointment with the Italian Consulate in Boston, which is 2 miles away from my apartment. Then, if all goes well, I will have the passport and begin making plans to move.

UPDATE: I will aim to move to Italy by September of 2006 as I just accepted a full-time position here and will save money before the big move.

A presto!

And so it begins...

2005-09-02T15:40:00.001-04:00

Some time ago, I heard that if one of your ancestors came over from Italy and you could prove this, that you could become an Italian citizen. I believe I was about 15 at time and was told that the "program" to obtain citizenship would end soon, so I payed little attention to this "program."

Until recently...

Since I spent the Spring of 2003 in Turin, I've wanted to live in Italy for some time and experience more of the culture. Last week, I looked into the before mentioned citizenship "program" and discovered that I can apply for citizenship. The "program" didn't end years ago, as I believed, it is still in effect and I am eligible for citizenship.

According to expatsinitaly.com, I am eligible because:

"Your paternal or maternal grandfather was born in the USA, your maternal or paternal GREAT grandfather was an Italian citizen at the time of his/her birth, neither you nor your father/mother nor you grandfather/grandmother ever renounced rights to Italian Citizenship."

Here's my link:

Great-grandfather:
Alfredo
Born: February, 1894
Town: Gissi, Abruzzo, Italy
Entered the USA: May 10, 1912
Manner: SS Taormina
Became US Citizen: April 27, 1935

Grandfather:
Nicholas
Born: October, 1920
Town: Revere, MA
Technically born a dual US-Italian citizen because HIS father didn't become naturalized in the US until 1935.

Mother:
Born: 1944
Town: Malden, MA
Technically born a dual US-Italian citizen because HER father was born a dual citizen.

Me:
Born: 1982
Town: Dorchester, MA
Technically born a dual US-Italian citizen because MY mother was born a dual citizen.

What do I plan on doing with this dual citizenship?

I really don't know yet. What I do know is that should I decide to move to Italy, I will not need to register with the police, get any form a visa to stay over 90 days, and get any special documents to work ANYWHERE in the 25 nation EU. As someone who has dealt with registering with police and EU border controls, having Italian citizenship is VERY liberating.

Why leave the US? This is the greatest place in the world!

I agree. Though I may not agree with many of the government's policies, that is not why I would move to another country. Here are some quotes about traveling:

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~St. Augustine

Half the fun of the travel is the esthetic of lostness. ~Ray Bradbury

I met a lot of people in Europe. I even encountered myself. ~James Baldwin

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime. ~Mark Twain

To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries. ~Aldous Huxley

Things I need for Italian Citizenship:

Great-grandfather's birth certificate
Great-grandmother's birth certificate (CHECK)
Great-grandparent's marriage certificate (CHECK)
Great-grandfather's naturalization record (CHECK)
Great-grandfather's death certificate
Great-grandmother's death certificate
Grandfather's birth certificate
Grandmother's birth certificate
Grandparent's marriage certificate
Grandfather's death certificate
Grandmother's death certificate
Father's birth certificate (CHECK)
Mother's birth certificate (CHECK)
Parent's marriage certificate (CHECK)
My birth certificate (CHECK)

The only document I need from Italy is my great-grandfather's birth certificate, and I have contacted someone in Italy to get this paperwork for me, for a small fee of €50, which is cheaper than flying over there and getting it myself, I guess. All the other documents that I need I can get copies of from the Massachusetts State Archives.

I will keep this updated, as I believe it is good information for other's to have if they want to look into dual citizenship.

A presto