It's a new day..

On February 22, 2011, I received my Italian certificate recognizing me as an Italian citizen!!

The overall process did not take a long time.  Taking into consideration the delays in Argentina and the fact that it took the Italian consulate in Miami to hear back from the Italian consulate in Buenos Aires 4 months.

Apparently that consulate in Miami needed to information from the consulate in Argentina.  Virginia said it was consulate-to-consulate information-.  

Finally on November the 20h, she wrote me back letting me know she had received response from them.

Again..overall..not bad..not bad at all!

To everyone out there don't lose hope..good things come to those who wait.

Arrivederci e buona notte

Finally...

I finally received my GGF's document from Argentina on Friday which I mailed to Virginia on Saturday morning.  I also received my parents' no appeal translation on Tuesday which was sent out that same day.  So far so good, I haven't heard from Virginia which is good news!

I have been reading the forums and apparently the process through the Miami consulate is taking 4 to 5 months.  Now let's not forget, this also depends on how fast the pertinent comune works.

I also read that once a person becomes recognized as an Italian citizen, the comune will mail a letter to the newly recognized Italian, but they will not mail the birth certificate unless it is requested.

But, I'll cross that bridge when I get there!

In the meantime I'll just keep waiting for my letter...

Buona notte

Another stepping stone.....

So, to catch up a bit.  Right after my appointment we moved the family to Illinois.  Not knowing what the next 2 months would bring us.  But, I'll tell you... despite our happiness towards an exciting Italian Citizenship (almost) end, life brought us another challenge, a challenge that would put our love as a family to the test.  We mooved from Florida to a small town in Illinois, my husband lost his job, the home we were going to rent was a wreck and it's landlord told us we could fix it up bit by bit as out of pocket (I'm NOT kidding!!), and  we had NO money left.  The moving costs were $3000 alone and we did it ourselves of course.
But at least I still had my job, on a part-time basis now, which I did from home, let me rephrase that, my mom's basement is more like it.  Yes, right after finding out we were homeless, my mom offered us her basement, and so we took it.  Now, most people would say, a basement is not bad, and believe me it's not when there's NO mold growing from the walls, carpet, bathroom and doors.  
But, it's safe to say that 3 weeks ago we made a 3 hour 25 minutes trip to Chicago and its suburbs to find a new place to call home.  We found a great place just 30 minutes away from Chicago, but it's on the suburbs.  We are far away from the craziness but close enough to it's entertainment.  My husband was able to find work, and I am happy to report that we are SETTLED again!!!

Now back to the process....
Right after my appointment my aunt was able to send me the NO citizen document from Argentina, which upon arrival, I forwarded to Virginia. 
Also 3 weeks after the appointment, I called the clerk of courts in Miami for the 18th time, but this time around I was helped by someone who knew exactly what I needed.  She said they had a form called "Statement of NO Appeal", and all I needed to do in order to obtain it was to: 
1. Request it in writing,  
2.  Send a $7 money order, and   
3.  Include a self stamped envelope.  
All of which I did, and 2 weeks later I had the document in my hands which I made a copy of and then rushed to the post office to mail it.
Now, with all this craziness happening, I also had Virginia calling me. She said 2 things, 
1.  The Statement of NO Appeal had to be translated and 
2.   The certificate of NO citizen had to be stamped by the Italian consulate in Argentina.  
She then sent me back such certificate so that it could be forwarded to Argentina one more time to be stamped by the consulate over there.
And that's exactly what was done.  Now I am awaiting for my aunt to get that document stamped and sent back to me in order for me to send it to Virginia.
In the meantime, my mom's certificate/Statement of NO appeal is being translated as we speak.  I will then forward that to Virginia as well.


I think that's it for now, it took me an hour to catch up on 2 1/2 months of living history.
Well,  hopefully on the next update I'll be able to write: Just waiting for the certificate............


Arrivederci e buona notte

At last....

After a not so long journey, but full of obstacles in its way, I managed to come afloat.
As I have mentioned in my previous post, all DC, along with MC and BC where in Argentina and needed to get to me before April 14th at 9:00.  
My dear aunt ended up mailing all the documents by UPS since they had a guaranteed delivery by 8:30 in the morning that April 14th, and at this point it was a chance we needed to take.
That morning I took the children to school and came back home in a hurry awaiting these long awaited documents and finally at 8:15 my door bell rings and here they were!


I checked all the documents, made copies of some of them and off I was along with my mother, who I had previously added to my appointment.
We arrived at the consulate at 9:30, a half hour earlier, which is not a big deal since if you are more than 10 minutes late, they automatically drop your appointment!


I soon as we entered the consulate we notified a very nice gentleman at he information window, that we had an appointment at the citizenship window at 10:00 and we were told to wait. 
We waited no more then 10 minutes when Virginia, this very nice and polite short brownish/reddish short hair and petite lady called my name.  We came to the window and she asked us who our lineage was, "my great-grandfather", I answered.
She then started requesting the documents in order, she asked for:

*--My great-grandfather's BC
*--My great-grandfather's certificate of Naturalization or Not Naturalization, to which I said my aunt was picking it up in Argentina the following day, since it had gotten lost in the Argentinian mail, I showed her the order proof they Camara Electoral had given my aunt to pick up this document, where it said "Certificate of Non-Argentinian", meaning had never become an Argentinian citizen.  She read it and said to mail it to her when it became ready, and she kept this document I showed her.
*--Next she asked for my great-grandfather's marriage certificate
*--My great-grandfather's death certificate
*--And then she started asking me for my grandmother's BC
Please Note: She never asked me for my great-grandmother's information at all, since I was doing this process through my great-grandfather, she said they were not necessary.
*--Then she asked me for my grandmother's marriage certificate
Please Note: My grandmother divorced almost 50 years ago, but since my mother was born during that marriage the certificate was not necessary.
*--Then she asked for my mother's BC
*--My mother's marriage certificate
*--My mother's divorce certificate, since my mother was applying for the citizenship as well.  Virginia told my mom at this point that she needed to get the "Statement of NO appeal", or certificate of no appeal, and that she could mail it once she received it and had it appostilled.
*--Then she asked for my BC
*--My marriage certificate, I gave her my husband's birth certificate at this point, which she kept.
*--And BC for all three children
Now, my first child was born before my husband and I got married, therefore, Virginia said my husband would have to go to the consulate to have our child recognized. I told her that we were moving in 2 days and she said to come back next day and just ask for her, and so we did.
*--She then asked for all 4 forms filled out that are on their website, which we had, including form 3 filled out by my grandmother and certified in Argentina, along with a copy of her Identification.
After we gave her all the documents, she made us sign the A.I.R.E. while she was assigning us case numbers, and she had my mother fill out an additional form to have her divorce recognized in Italy. 
When she came back to the window, she gave me her business card to have the 2 missing documents mailed to her attention, along with their respective case numbers which she added in the back of her card.  She did say that there are hundreds of applications to go through and that it may take some time to hear back from them.
The next morning I went back with my husband, Virginia had written a letter of recognition, which the both of us signed and that was it!


Now, I am waiting for the certificate to arrive from Argentina and I'm in a quest trying to locate the certificate of no appeal that the court where my parents' divorced has no idea what I'm talking about  But I'll just keep trying!!


I'll post an update soon!!!!

Almost there.....

Today is Sunday and my appointment is this coming Wednesday at 10:00 in the morning!!

My heart is pounding at light speed since I have yet to receive the documents from Argentina.

There was an issue with the Apostille, and therefore the Italian consulate in Buenos Aires did not legalized them.

My aunt will be picking up the now corrected documents (hopefully), Monday morning and will be going to the Italian consulate (again), to get them legalized.

And with A LOT of luck I will be able to pick them up at the Fedex location in my area on Wednesday morning right before my appointment.

I'll keep you posted...whoever you are...and where ever you are....IF you ARE out there reading this post.

Sample Birth Certificate Letter

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

12/13/2009- Documentation Checklist

Documents that I have received-

• Your paternal/maternal great-grandfather's birth certificate from Italy 
• Your paternal/maternal great-grandfather's certificate of Italian citizenship from Italy, also known as a certificato di cittadinanza italiana.
• Your paternal/maternal great-grandmother's birth certificate.

Documents that I have in transit-

• Your great-grandparent's marriage certificate
• Your paternal/maternal grandmother's birth certificate
• Your grandparents' marriage certificate
• Your mother's birth certificate
• Your father's birth certificate
• Your parents' marriage certificate
• Your birth certificate
• Your spouse's birth certificate

Documents that I must obtain-

• Declaration that your grandmother never renounced her Italian citizenship.
• Your paternal/maternal grandfather's birth certificate
• Declaration that your mother never renounced her Italian citizenship.
• Your parents' divorce certificate
• Declaration that you never renounced her citizenship.
• Your marriage certificate
• Birth certificates for all your children under the age of eighteen
• Documents issued in countries other than the U.S. must comply with the local regulations on the legalization of documents.