HOW CAN YOU QUALIFY FOR ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP BY DESCENT IF YOU ARE A U.S. CITIZEN?
Migration has always existed throughout the history of human kind, and the factors that have driven international migration flows have always had a common denominator, be it war, famine, persecution but also the desire to improve one’s life and search for better opportunities. This also applies to the mass migration waves from Italy to the United States, which characterized the 1800s and 1900s. About 5.5 million Italians emigrated to the United States in those years, with the majority of them arriving in the 20th century from Southern Italy, mainly from Sicily, Calabria, Apulia, Molise, Basilicata, Campania and Abruzzo. Some Italian immigrants sent remittances back to their families in Italy and eventually returned to their motherland; many, however, stayed in the United States and fulfilled the so-called “American dream”.
Many say that humans have an innate desire to reconnect with their roots, and this seems to be the case for many Americans with Italian descent who have decided to pursue Italian citizenship in recent years. But how can a U.S. citizen today claim Italian citizenship by descent? How can you qualify? It will be the aim of this article to provide you with an overview of what U.S. citizens need to know if they want to pursue Italian citizenship by descent.
* Please note that this article will analyse the most common scenarios; however, there are also other circumstances which are unique, and which require a specific and different assessment to the one outlined below.
Eligibility requirements
Firstly, you can apply for Italian citizenship by descent if your ancestor who was born in Italy was never naturalized, or if he/she became a U.S. citizen after the birth of the child who was born in the U.S., and if none of your ascendants in your direct line of descent ever formally renounced their right to Italian citizenship. Please note that if one of your Italian ancestors moved to the U.S. when he/she was still a minor, they might have become naturalized via their parents.
If there is a woman in your Italian lineage who was born in Italy and gave birth to her child who was born abroad before January 1, 1948, you may not be able to qualify for Italian citizenship by descent through an application at the consulate. However, you might be able to pursue Italian citizenship via the court system and file a 1948 case. This is because when Italy’s constitution came into effect on January 1, 1948, women and men were granted equal rights, and therefore women were able to pass their Italian citizenship on to their children. On the contrary, prior to this date, women could not pass their Italian citizenship on to their children, which is now considered to be unlawful and discriminatory against women, and this is why you can retroactively apply for citizenship via a lawsuit.
Please note that If your male ancestor, who was born in Italy, married a woman (who was also born in Italy) and was naturalized prior to September 22, 1922, his wife might have become a U.S. citizen automatically due to the U.S. laws which were in force prior to The Cable Act of 1922. In particular, this law changed the status of married immigrant women so that they would not automatically acquire their husbands’ citizenship. If this case applies to you, you might be able to apply for citizenship via your female ancestor (provided that she was born in Italy) because it is very likely that she became naturalized involuntarily by marriage. As with the previous case, this is now considered to be unlawful and discriminatory against women, and therefore you can try your case in court via a judicial proceeding.
Another important date to bear in mind is June 13, 1912, which is when the Italian government issued a law which regulated the acquisition of Italian citizenship. The law established that if your Italian ancestor was naturalized before that date you could not apply for Italian citizenship. This also applies if your Italian ancestor became naturalized before that date and after his child’s birth. Please note that if your Italian ancestor emigrated to another country (Brazil or Argentina for instance) prior to arriving in the U.S., it is important to verify whether he/she became naturalized in that country.
Similarly, if one of the ascendants in your Italian line emigrated to the U.S. from another country he/she must not have become naturalized in the U.S. prior to the birth of the next person in the Italian line.
Required documents
In order to apply for Italian citizenship by descent you will need to collect you family’s vital records, authenticate them with apostilles and translate them into Italian. More specifically, you will need certified, long form or book copies of your family’s vital records. These entail birth, marriage, death and divorce certificates (if applicable), and your Italian ancestor’s naturalization records, or proof that he/she was never naturalized. Vital records are issued by the state’s Department of Health, county or town, whereas naturalization records are held by USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), NARA (The National Archives and Records Administration) or the county in which naturalization occurred. Please note that it is also possible to order certificates online from these departments’ websites, and there are also online agencies such as VitalCheck, for example, which is an authorized resource for official, government-issued online vital records ordering. Once all of the vital records have been collected, you will need to check that there are no discrepancies in your documents that might negatively affect your application. If there are amendments that need to be made you will need to contact the amendments division of the Department of Health or town to which you applied and enquire as to whether the amendment can be made. Finally, you will need to authenticate the vital records by requesting an apostille, which is issued by the Secretary of State or by the U.S. Department of State (for federal documents) and translate them into Italian.
Where can you apply?
As for filing the citizenship application per se, you will need to apply to the Italian Consulate which covers the jurisdiction where you reside. The list of Italian Consulates in the United States can be found here. On the day of your appointment you will need to submit your vital records and pay the consular fee in order for the consulate to process your application. Fees change every three months, but information regarding the costs can be found on the consulates’ websites. Each adult applicant will need to pay the fee, which is normally around $300. If your claim to citizenship is successful you will be granted Italian citizenship; you will then be registered with the AIRE (Registry of Italian Citizens Residing Abroad) and will be issued an Italian passport.
Do you need to speak Italian to apply for Italian citizenship by descent?
Please note that you do not need to speak Italian to apply for Italian citizenship by descent. Speaking Italian, in fact, is not a legal requirement. This is because you are Italian by birth-right and you are only formally applying for the recognition of your right to Italian citizenship. Therefore, you do not need to speak Italian to prove your right. Furthermore, clerks working in the Italian Consulates in the U.S. are fluent in English and therefore your appointment at the Consulate can be conducted in English.
Useful information for individuals born outside of the U.S.
If you are not a U.S. citizen, but you live in the United States, and you would like to apply for Italian citizenship to a consulate in the U.S., you will need a visa which needs to be valid for two years on average from the date you apply, or you will need to provide the Consulate with your green card.
It is worth clarifying that an individual applying for Italian citizenship must not have voluntarily become a U.S. citizen prior to 1992 because prior to that date Italy did not allow dual citizenship.
This is also the case if an applicant was born in Argentina; in other words, he/she must not have become a naturalized U.S citizen prior to August 15, 1992.
If you need more information about eligibility requirements, or if you would like a free assessment to determine whether you qualify for Italian citizenship, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We will be happy to help you.
