If you are eligible to apply for Italian citizenship by descent, one of the first questions that will arise as you embark on this exciting journey towards dual citizenship will be: which documents do I need and how do I obtain them? In previous articles we focused on the legal documents and vital records needed to apply for Italian citizenship by descent; this article in particular will explain how to retrieve them. Regardless of whether you will be applying via an Italian consulate in the U.S. or abroad, a municipality in Italy or via a court case filed in Italy, you will need to submit the vital records pertaining to the individuals in your Italian lineage, your own vital records, and certified copies of your ancestor’s naturalization records or proof that your ancestor was never naturalized. Some Italian consulates might also require the vital records pertaining to the spouses of the individuals in your Italian lineage; however, this depends on the consulate to which you apply, therefore, it is always best to check the consulate’s website for the specific requirements. While ICA can procure all the necessary documents, some people chose to obtain them without any assistance. If this applies to you, please find further information about how to do so below.
Which offices hold birth, marriage and death certificates
As a general rule, official birth, marriage and death certificates are issued by the U.S. state’s Department of Health but in some cases they may also be held by the town or the county in which the event occurred. Marriage certificates, for instance, can generally be retrieved from the state’s Department of Health as well as from the county in which the marriage license was purchased. When retrieving a marriage certificate, it is also worth applying for a certified copy of the marriage license or the marriage application (if available) as it generally includes the registrants’ parents’ names, which help the citizenship clerk to verify the applicant’s Italian lineage. Please note that when retrieving birth and death certificates you will need to request a certified, long form/book copy of the record; short forms are not accepted by the Italian authorities as they do not list all the information which is needed to assess a citizenship application[1]. If some of the certificates you need for your application are particularly old, they might not be held by the Department of Health so you might need to retrieve them from the state or municipal archives, or from the town in which the event occurred. Divorce decrees can be retrieved from the court in which the divorce was filed. In addition to the divorce decree, you will also need a Certificate of No Appeal stating that no appeal was filed after the final judgment. Some courts might not be able to issue a Certificate of No Appeal; in that case you may request a case summary.
Eligibility requirements to apply for vital records
There are various eligibility requirements to apply for the vital records needed for a citizenship application. The rules vary depending on the state issuing the record, on the type of record that is being requested (marriage, birth, death) and on the date of issuance. For instance, in New York State only the person on the record or the parent may order a certified copy of a birth certificate. If the person whose record is being requested and his/her parent are deceased, a court order from a New York State Court is required. The Health Department in New York City, which holds records for vital events occurred in the city’s five boroughs, on the other hand, allows a deceased registrant’s relative to obtain a certified copy of the deceased individual’s birth record provided that the applicant submits proof of death for the registrant and a family tree showing the applicant’s relation to the registrant. If the registrant died in New York City the Health Department requires a photocopy of the death certificate; on the other hand, if the death occurred outside of New York City an original copy of the record is required. As for marriage records, only one of the spouses or a person with a written authorization from one of the spouses can request a marriage certificate from the New York City clerk’s office if the marriage is less than fifty years old. On the other hand, if both spouses are deceased, the applicant needs to provide the spouses’ death certificates. In the state of California, certified copies of birth records can only be issued to the registrant, or to his/her parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or spouse. Death certificates can only be issued to the registrant’s parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or spouse. Finally, in certain states vital records are public and can be requested by anyone who can provide a copy of a valid ID and proof of address[2]. These are just some examples of the different requirements established by some states and the offices which are responsible for issuing vital records, therefore, it is worth checking eligibility requirements to apply for the records before you request them.
Requesting vital records by mail
In order to request a vital record by mail you need to sign an application form, which is available on the department, county or court’s website. Depending on the specific Department of Health, county or court and the type of record requested, you might need to sign a form which requires your notarized signature or you may need to provide proof of relationship to request your ascendants’ vital records. Once you have downloaded, printed and signed the application form you will need to mail it to the office which is responsible for issuing the record together with a form of payment and supporting documents, such as a copy of your ID and proof of relationship, if required. Some departments of health require applicants to submit a self-addressed return envelope. The processing time to be issued a record depends on the state or county responsible for issuing the record and it may vary from a few days to several weeks. In most cases the record will only be mailed to the applicant’s residency address.
Requesting vital records by phone, in person or online
Some departments of health allow individuals to apply for records over the phone, in person or via their website. Payment may be made through money orders, cash and credit cards.
Requesting vital records through VitalCheck
Some departments of health may also allow applicants to order records from VitalCheck, an official, government-authorized service that allows individuals to securely order certified birth certificates and other records from over 450 official government agencies nationwide. In addition to the agency’s fees which covers the cost of searching and preparing the document, VitalCheck also applies a processing fee which covers validation services.
How to order naturalization records
If your ancestor was naturalized you will need to retrieve the following documents: Declaration of Intentions, Petition for Naturalization and the Certificate of Naturalization. These documents can be retrieved from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), or the county in which the naturalization took place. The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation’s record keeper and its facilities across the United States hold a wide range of historical records including naturalization records. In order to request these, you will need to mail a written request to the NARA office which covers the jurisdiction where your ancestor resided, and you will need to provide your ancestor’s name, date and place of birth, date and place of naturalization and the number on his/her Petition for Naturalization and Certificate of Naturalization, if available. NARA will then provide you with the payment details and they will mail you the records. NARA only keeps Federal records, therefore, if your ancestor was naturalized in a state court you will need to contact the relevant court or county. If you know your ancestor’s certificate of naturalization number you can order his/her naturalization records online through USCIS.
If your ancestor was never naturalized you will need to provide the Italian authorities with a Certificate of Non-Existence of Records issued by USCIS that certifies that no naturalization record was found pertaining to your ancestor. You will also need to retrieve a Letter of Negative Search issued by NARA or the counties in which your ancestor resided. In both cases you will need to mail a written request outlining your ancestor’s name, date and place of birth, arrival date in the U.S. and his/her residency details. Additionally, some consulates might ask you to retrieve supporting documents, such as a certified copy of a census listing your ancestor’s citizenship status as “AL” (alien), or his/her alien files. Censuses can be ordered online via the National Archives’ website. On the other hand, alien files (also known as “A-Files”) include all records regarding active cases of legal aliens residing in the U.S., such as alien registration forms, visas and deportation documents, petitions for U.S. citizenship, vital records and identification documents. A-Files can be ordered online through USCIS.
If you do not know whether your ancestor was ever naturalized, you will need to place an online Index Search through USCIS which, at the time of the writing this article is $65. You will be asked to provide your ancestor’s name, date and place of birth, approximate or specific year of emigration to the U.S., and you will also be given the option to provide further information, such as your ancestor’s spouse and children’s names and their list of residency addresses in the U.S. USCIS will then analyze the information you provided, search through their records and will ultimately send you an email or a letter stating whether they were able to find any naturalization records pertaining to your ancestor.
How to request vital records from Italy
Finally, your ancestor’s vital records from Italy can be retrieved from the registry office (“ufficio di stato civile”) of the Italian municipality in which the registration of the event occurred. In order to retrieve them you will need to contact the municipality either via phone, PEC[3], mail or email, and you will need to provide them with your ancestor’s place of birth and his/her parents’ names. Some municipalities may require you to mail them a self-addressed return envelope to apply for the Estratto per riassunto dell’atto di nascita (a certified extract of the birth record), the Estratto per riassunto dell’atto di matrimonio (a certified extract of the marriage record), and Estratto per riassunto dell’atto di morte (a certified extract of the death record). Generally, Italian records can be obtained free of charge, however, some municipalities may request “diritti di segreteria”, a small fee that covers administrative costs to issue a record. If you cannot retrieve the records in person you can delegate a person in Italy to retrieve them on your behalf.
If your ancestors’ names were misspelled when they moved to the United States, or if their names were anglicized (e.g. Giovanni – John; Maria – Mary, Assunta – Susan) you can also request a specific certificate from the municipality called certificato di esatte generalità, which certifies that your ancestor was the only individual born with that specific name and on that specific day. Some municipalities might also issue a different document which is called positivo – negativo, which certifies that your ancestor was the only individual born with that specific name and on that specific day.
As for the processing time necessary to be issued a vital record from Italy, by law, municipalities have a maximum of six months to issue a certificate, however this may vary depending on the workload of the municipality to which you apply. If the vital record you are searching for is very old, it might not be held by the municipality but rather by the Archivio di Stato (state archive). As a matter of fact, most municipalities in Italy started registering vital records between 1861 and 1871. You can contact the state archives by mail or by email.
It is worth mentioning that if you cannot locate your ancestor’s birth record you may use church records such as a Certificate of Baptism, which according to Italian law can be used to file a citizenship application only if birth registries did not exist when the birth occurred. In order to request a baptismal records you need to contact the church in which the baptism occurred.
Apostilles and translations
Once you have collected all of the vital records needed to apply for the recognition of Italian citizenship by descent you will need to check that there are no major discrepancies that might negatively affect your application and prevent the clerk who will be assessing your case from being able to verify your Italian lineage. If there are no inconsistencies on the records concerning dates of birth or names pertaining to the individuals in your Italian lineage, the records will need to be authenticated with an Apostille (click here to learn how) and they will need to be translated into Italian. Please note that Italian vital records do not need to be authenticated with an Apostille. More information about translating vital records can be found here.
Once all the records have been authenticated with an Apostille and translated into Italian you will be ready to file your application. The citizenship clerk or the judge assessing your application will check that all the documents comply with the requirements set by law and you will need to allow the time necessary for your application to be assessed.
In conclusion, we hope that this article has provided you with a more detailed insight into requesting the documents needed to file an application for Italian citizenship by descent. If you would like more information, do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
[1] Generally, a short form birth certificate only lists the registrant’s county of birth and not the exact city of birth.
[2] For instance the state of Ohio is an “open record” state. Vital records (births and deaths) are considered to be public records which means that anyone may request a certified copy.
[3] A PEC (which stands for Posta Elettronica Certificata) is a certified email which guarantees legal certainty of the sender’s identity and of the date and time of sending and receiving the email.
