Headache...

Here I was three days ago, thinking everything was going to be allright, but then, it happened.

I should have known, nothing runs smoothly in my life for such a long period of time.

When reading the process at the Italian consulate's site for the 80th time, I noticed this section, "Documents issued in countries other than the U.S. must comply with the local regulations on the legalization of documents and they must be translated into Italian. Such documents and their translations must be submitted to THE ITALIAN CONSULATE/EMBASSY IN THE COUNTRY WHERE THE DOCUMENTS WERE ISSUED PRIOR TO BEING BROUGHT TO THIS CONSULATE." 

The problem- I phoned the Italian consulate in Buenos Aires, a very polite signora explained that the documents must be presented to them in person by me or an appointed person by me.  This person would then need to provide to them:

*   A letter from me sealed by the Italian consulate in Miami, appointing such person as my representative.

*   This person's DNI, or international document of identity, given in Argentina, this document is an ID.

*   The documents to be sealed by the consulate

*   A letter of residence from me and sealed by the Italian consulate in Miami.

*   My mom's unexpired DNI

*   My mom's letter appointing such person as her representative

*   My mom's letter of residence

*   My GM's DNI 

*   My GM's letter appointing such person as her representative

*   My own unexpired DNI, one problem, my DNI is infact expired.  I renewed this document at the Argentinian consulate in Miami 2 months ago, but all I received was a receipt that shows that I renewed it.  The actual DNI takes anywhere from 8 to 18 months to arrive.

Possible Solutions-  

*  Send all requested documents along with my expired DNI and receipt, given by the Argentinian consulate, which shows the new DNI being processed. 

or...

*  Try to obtain such DNI in Argentina. On the day of my renewal appointment in Miami, the consulate, gathered my fingerprints, along with signature, and photos. I, once again, required the help from my BF the www.  I searched online for the Registro Civil, where these DNI are given, and obtained their phone number as well as their address. All I want to know is if my appointed representative can gather such document directly from th Registro Civil in Argentina. I will be calling first thing on Monday morning.

or...  
*  Call back Abtran, and add my mom to my appointment date, at the Italian consulate in Miami, so that if I don't get my BC sealed by the Italian consulate in Argentina, at least she can do her application and I'll apply apply directly through her once I received such document.

or...

*  Just do all three.  My head is spinning rapidly!

All I can do today is wait, wait for a brighter new tomorrow, that will hopefully come.

 

More documentation

While I sent in the requests to both Comunes for my bisnonnos' BC, I went ahead and ordered my GM, M, and my BC, along with my father's BC, my bisnonnos' death and marriage certificates.

These certificates were produced in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the consulate requires them to be Apostilled and Translated to Italian in the country in which these were produced.

So, I turned to my aunt who lives there, and told me of this online company that will do this service even for people who are abroad.

I turned to them, I placed the order, paid in two different payments..it wasn't cheap...and received an email yesterday with confirmation that these documents are on there way.

Their service is phenomenal! I paid by online WesternUnion, they helped me through out the entire process and kept in touch at all times by email. If you may need them they are called Partidasya.com.

The consulate of Chicago as well as Miami, require a certificate from all the countries where my bisnonno lived, which says that he never renounced his Italian citizenship, meaning, he never became naturalized anywhere else.

At this point I had no idea which form that was or where to obtain it from, so, I called the Italian consulate in Buenos Aires and they told me exactly what this meant and that, that letter is requested from the PJN.gov.ar.

So I called them up and this very nice lady told me about the process and how it must be made in person since there was a $10 fee which must be in pesos.

I explain to her that I could not do it in person, but if I were able to obtain $10 pesos if there was any way possible for me to put it in an envelope and mail it to her along with the other required documentation.

She said that I needed to put the $10 pesos inside the envelope along with 2 carbon papers and the documentation.  And so I did! I sent the package certified and tracked it down until it had left the country.

A week later I phoned her and she had received my package along with the money and gave me a case number for my references.  She also mentioned that I was missing a couple of papers, but once that was received she would be able to mail me the letter.

So, at this point I am waiting to get my bisnonnos' death certificate as well as his BC from Partidasya, so that I can make certified copies and mail them to her.

Gathering all documents

A Big plus that I have when it comes to gathering the documents required for the Italian citizenship, is that my Grandmother, as well as my aunt, Tata, and my Mom, have either copies or the original Birth Certificates, as well as, the Marriage and Death Certificates, pertaining to my bisnonnos.

Nevertheless, I wasn't aware of my family having such documents, therefore, I went ahead with my first instinct: WWW.  I researched how to get my bisnonnos' BC, Marriage and Death Certificates, and I was able to find a company that will do it for you, called MyItalianCitizenship, they are able to obtain BCs, Marriage and Death Certificates, as well as, Italian Citizenship Certificates; they also have a Forum where its people are very helpful!

Each certificate cost is $55, so I went ahead and gave them all the information I had about my bisnonnos, their DOB, parents names, as well as, their place of birth, Novara and Genova.  The entire package was $125 ($55 x2 BC, plus $15 for Shipping). They sent out two letters to the comunes in Italia and they make one phone call with their service.

I sent in my request on October 25th, and I have yet to receive anything although I contacted them by email and they assured me that the request letters had been sent out.

So, there I was again! I went back to the WWW and searched how to get the documents by myself...and then, just then, I found this Great Forum, they are called ItalianGenealogy.com. 

I found out that I could obtain the BCs all by myself directly from the correspondent comunes.  So, I went to the Italian Comunes page, Comuni.it, and searched for Novara and Genova.  I sent them an email request in Italiano, as well as, a formal letter, also in Italiano.  Here's the format that I used:

Your Name
Address, State, ZipCode
US

____________________________________________________________________________

Ufficio dello Stato Civile

Comune di [comune name]

[5-digit Cap code] [comune name] [2-letter province]

Egregi Signori,

Il mio nome e’ Your Name. Sono una cittadina americana discendente da Italiani e sto cercando di ottenere anche la cittadinanza italiana.

Per questo richiedo, cortesemente, il Vostro aiuto, poiche’ mi necessita l'estratto dell'atto di nascita, in formato internazionale, della mia relation RELATIVE NAME. Ellgi/Ella nacque il day/month/year in City da Relative Father Name e da Relative Mother Name.

                     

Poiche’ io necessito di questo documento per formalizzare la mia richiesta di cittadinanza italiana, e’ molto importante che il suddetto certificato riporti i nomi di entrambi i genitori.

I documenti andranno inviati al seguente indirizzo:

Your Name

Your Address

La mia e-mail: Your Email

Se ci saranno spese da sostenere Vi prego di comunicarmelo e sarà  mia cura inviarvi quanto dovuto a stretto giro di posta.

Molte grazie in anticipo  per la Vostra cortesia ed il Vostro aiuto.

Cordiali Saluti,

Your Name

You can also call them directly, but that is...if you can speak Italiano!  I stuck to the emails and letters, since it seems it's what I do best!

At the Italian Citizenship Message Board, I was told that it may take some time to answer any correspondence received from outside of Italia, since this process is done in person, and usually, they have loads of people to help each day.

I kept my optimism and send the emails and letters anyways.

Exactly a week after my requests had gone out, I receive a letter from the Novara Comune with my bisnonno's brother's BC instead, apparently they confused the BCs.  I emailed them and I sent another letter of these occurrence, and I thank them for their prompt response.  Two weeks later I received my bisnonno's BC in the mail, with a letter attached, that recognizes him as an Italian citizen, descendant of Italian family.

For those of you who don't know this process and how Italian citizenship is obtained, read carefully...

A person born in Italia doesn't mean is Italian, Italian citizenship is acquired by blood, only those born in Italia or abroad from Italian descendants are Italian.

A few days later I was contacted by email by the Comune in Genova, they couldn't find my bisnonna's BC.  As my blood pressure was rising rather quickly, I turned to my friends at Italian Genealogy Message Board, and I was told that Genova is a big city, I needed to find out in which town my bisnonna was born.  I quickly turned to my bisnonna's passport scanned copy that my mom had sent me, and found out that she was born in Isola del Cantore.  With that information at hand, I turned back to my friends who gave me its Comune's address.

The next day I mailed the letter to them.

Three weeks past and today I received a letter from the Isola del Cantore's Comune with....my bisnonna's BC!

Success!!

The Process

In order to start the Italian recognition process, also known as, "Jure Sanguinis", or Right of Blood, one must first find out if one qualifies.  After going through pretty much all Italian consulate and embassies available and known to human kind, I came to find out, that I qualify under my GGF or Great-grandfather, GM or Grandmother, M or Mother, and Me.

Up until that point I had everything figured out, except that I was born in Argentina, but now I was living in the US, the country where I held residence for the past 13 years, since I was 15 years old.

Therefore, a new questions arises, should I start the process in my native country?, or should I start the process where I hold residence?

Of course I opted to request help from my very best friend...the World Wide Web! aka Internet.

By the end of the day, I was exhausted! I kept searching all over the www for a straight answer, and all I had were yes, no, yes, no, yes, and perhaps!

And so, since that didn't go as expected, I contacted both the Italian consulates in Miami as well as the one in Buenos Aires.  And after 2 long and dreadful days they replied back withe the news..."You must apply in the country where you hold permanet residence."

Aghhh...I was relieved!

That week I waisted no time and went back to the www to research the steps and process that needed to be followed.

I found out all the documentation that needed to be presented:

1. Your paternal/maternal great-grandfather's birth certificate from Italy, also known as an estratto dell'atto di nascita.
2. Your paternal/maternal great-grandfather's certificate of Italian citizenship from Italy, also known as a certificato di cittadinanza italiana. (Note: Most Italian embassies and consulates do NOT require this. The only ones that do are the Italian consulates in Miami and Chicago) (see category 1 D/A/B/C)  
3. Your paternal/maternal great-grandmother's birth certificate.
   
4. Your great-grandparent's marriage certificate (If married outside of Italy, you will need an apostille and a translation into Italian.)
5. Your paternal/maternal grandmother's birth certificate (with apostille and translation) 
6. DECLARATION THAT YOUR GRANDFATHER/GRANDMOTHER NEVER RENOUNCED ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BEFORE ANY ITALIAN AUTHORITY, listing all his places of residence (if he is alive, ask him to sign his own declaration. The signature must be notarized if not signed before us. Copy of his passport and I.D. card are requested. Use FORM 3 if he is alive or FORM 4 if he is deceased) 
   
7. Your paternal/maternal grandfather's birth certificate.
8. Your grandparents' marriage certificate (with apostille and translation)
9. Your mother's birth certificate (with apostille and translation)
10. DECLARATION THAT YOUR FATHER/MOTHER NEVER RENOUNCED ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BEFORE ANY ITALIAN AUTHORITY, LISTING ALL HER PLACES OF THEIR FORMER RESIDENCE (if he/she is alive, ask him/her to sign his/ her own declaration. Signature must be notarized if not signed before us. Copy of his/her passport and driver license are requested. Use FORM 3) 
    
11. Your father's birth certificate
12. Your parents' marriage certificate (with apostille and translation)
13. Your birth certificate (with apostille and translation) 
14. YOUR DECLARATION THAT YOU NEVER RENOUNCED ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BEFORE ANY ITALIAN AUTHORITY, LISTING ALL PLACES OF YOUR FORMER RESIDENCE (Form 2) 
    
15. Your marriage certificate, if applicable (with apostille and translation)
16. Your spouse's birth certificate, if applicable
17. Birth certificates for all your children under the age of eighteen, if applicable (with apostille and translation)
18. Any applicable divorce decrees/certificates (with apostille and translation)
19. Death certificates related to the Italian ascendants. (with apostille and translation, if for your mother, grandmother or great grandfather) 
20.  Certificates: all certificates must be in "certified copy" a.k.a. "long form" or "full form" or “book copy” ("certification" or "abstract" will not be accepted). Such forms can be obtained at the Vital Statistics Office of the State in which the birth/marriage/death took place. Certificates reporting only the "Country" of birth cannot be accepted. You must request the Office of Vital Statistics to indicate the city of birth.
    Apostille: U.S. birth / marriage / death records related to the Italian side must bear the Apostille of the Secretary of State of the State where the document was issued (except for the certificate of naturalization and/or similar documentation).
    The “Apostille” is an international legalization. It is not a stamp on the certificate. It is a physical document stapled to the birth/marriage/death certificate.
    Please note that the “Apostille” does not require translation.
    
    IMPORTANT - Additional requirements for all categories:
    
    1) If you are married, you must also submit your marriage certificate along with a copy of your spouse's birth certificate.
    2) If you have children of minor age (under 18) you must also submit certified copy of their birth certificates.
    3) Certificates relating to the applicant’s family (his or her birth certificate, marriage certificate, birth certificates of minor children) in languages other than Italian must be translated into Italian. Documents that do not need to be translated and do not need an Apostille are: - U.S. Certificates of Naturalization and the letter of no records issued by Immigration and Naturalization Services. Statements regarding the naturalization status of the interested party, ancestors’ certificates and certificates related to the "not Italian side" of your family tree need an Apostille, but no traslation.
    
    • For all certificates issued from New York City and New York State, please check the web site of the Consulate General of Italy in New York (www.consnewyork.esteri.it).
    
    • Documents issued in countries other than the U.S. must comply with the local regulations on the legalization of documents and they must be translated into Italian. Such documents and their translations must be submitted to THE ITALIAN CONSULATE/EMBASSY IN THE COUNTRY WHERE THE DOCUMENTS WERE ISSUED PRIOR TO BEING BROUGHT TO THIS CONSULATE.
    A list of all the Italian Embassies and Consulates can be found at www.esteri.it
    
    

It was a long list, but it could be done one at a time!

The Goal

Freedom of speech, freedom to work, freedom to travel, freedom to come and go a we please... a place that holds no boundaries, a place where the sky is the limit!

Where, you may ask, this place is? Europe!

We are going to the UK, period.

Once I get my Italian citizenship recognized, once I am able to smell the new pages of that dear and long awaited Italian passport and hold it in my hands for the very first time, we'll relocate to the UK, in a quest to find what we haven't had in this country....Freedom!

This will be a journey....it is not going to be an easy one, but, with a detailed plan and the strengths of our hearts...anything will be possible.

The Plan

There's no more reasons for me to stay in a place that doesn't welcome me, a place that is a prison to me, a place where I can't be who I want to be, because of its laws and bureaucracy amongst others, therefore, lesson Learned and Move on.

 

Since some of my grandparents are of Italian ancestry, I decided to get recognized as an Italian descendent.

I decided to do it through my maternal grandmother, Baba, who is the daughter of my Italian Great-grandparents.

My bisnonno, Pietro and my bisnonna, Carolina, left Italy when WWI was over and my bisnonno returned home.  They migrated to Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1926, where they met and married.  Two years later, they gave birth to a son and two years after that, they gave birth to a daughter, my grandmother, Baba.

My great-grandparents never renunced to their Italian citizenship by becoming Argentine citizens, they lived and died Italian.  My grandmother on the other hand, never becaome an Italian citizen, even though she is one by birth.  Most of the times when we speak on the phone I ask her, but she never gives me an answer, she would say..."I don't want it", or "Why do I need it?", what is strange is that I know for a fact that she always wanted to visit Italy, and never could.

I know that in order to visit Italy a citizenship is not required, but it doesn't hurt having it, specially if you want to travel freely through out the European Union.

But I guess she might have her reasons, although, I don't think I will ever know them.

A new day...

Sometimes I find myself questioning in which direction my life is headed, but the truth is, a couple of months ago, I couldn't have answered that myself!

Just a few months ago, I found myself living a life in a place where survival is a virtue.  A place where only those who are wealthy, well mannered, well educated, and have the knowledge and expertise of making mad profits from sweaty, hard working, non-ignorant, gently, low-income workers, just like myself come on top.  I looked at my life as if it were on a quest game, as if I was one of the players, standing in the middle of a world map with a compass that pointed the direction I was to head, but its needle kept spinning around and gave no signs of stopping.  I felt confused.  My life had no direction. It was suffocating me! I felt as if I were a joystick and someone was moving it with its thumb. I had no voice. I could not be heard, no matter how hard I tried to let the only one word out of my chest...HELP!

One day at work, one of my dear co-workers, Kathie, mentioned that her son, a well educated boy, was headed to Cambridge, England, for a semester as an exchange student.  I was so excited for him, he had a plan, he had a goal, he had a vision; and he knew what was needed to do and went after it to get it.

That one episode made me think...in high school I was always an A+ student, I was well organized in every sense, when the professor was explaining what the next research paper was going to be about, I was already planning the way it was going to be written, which words I was to be using, where I was to get the material from, and how I would manage to find the time to get it done, between school, night school, in which I was taking extra subjects for extra credits just as I did in summer; and weekend part-time work...but, I always managed to hand my research paper, in three days time.

The only difference from that time to now, is that now I have a family, a wonderful man which I admire and adore, and three beautiful children ages 7, 5, and 1, to whom I would give my life in a heartbeat.

Now, I have people that depend on me, as opposed to before, when I only depended upon my own actions.

So I started to look back at my family history, just as the saying..."You don't know who you are, if you do not know where you come from."  I always looked at that saying as a fortifying and reassuring way of overcoming obstacles.

I was sure of one thing...I had found myself in a loop hole, but I was certain that at some point in their lives, some of my ancestors had found themselves in that very particular place, and somehow they managed to overcome it, and so was I.

I gather what I already knew, my dear paternal grandfather, who past when I was 9 years old, was the son of a Spaniard, his wife, my dear paternal grandmother, who past, just a few months ago, was the daughter of an Italian.  On the other hand, my dear maternal grandfather, who past a few year ago, was a Paraguayan, and my most dear maternal grandmother, is the daughter of an Italian as well, and with all these information I was to make a plan...

Finally, after 9 years, I was planning, organizing, and making goals, but this time, not only for me but for the people who I love the most, my Family!