I started with an introductory consultation with the ICA team. Upon learning that I was indeed eligible to pursue Italian citizenship as a 1948 case, there was no turning back. I chose their middle-tier package as I knew without question that I needed support and guidance from the experts to help me bring this dream into reality while also feeling like I was involved in the process. The process was filled with countless e-mails and visits to the post office, phone calls and exchanges with experts in three different countries (we had to retrieve vital records from the U.S. and Italy, as well as from my country of birth), administrative transactions on foreign websites, a much-anticipated court hearing and ruling, and even a number of in-person visits to my ancestors’ native region and local municipality in Sicily. All of this was in the hopes that, soon enough, I would be holding a new passport booklet in my hands.
However, as most people who have also gone through, or are currently going through, the process know, it’s often more than just the physical manifestation of the passport that many of us are searching for by the time we reach ICA’s figurative doorstep. Like many other Italian-Americans in the U.S., there was a strong desire to connect more with our roots, specifically my paternal grandparents’ side that hailed from Sciacca, Agrigento. I am so grateful that this reconnection could come in the form of such a life-changing gift. Ultimately, due to the nature of my case and having to go through the Italian courts, I had the honor of including my father on the petition and am thrilled to say we have both since reached the wonderful milestone of jointly obtaining our Italian citizenship! We are so grateful to the new doors that have opened and allow us to look toward the future. Having the option to spend more time in, or even relocate indefinitely, to a place like Italy (or anywhere in the EU for that matter) is such a privilege, and one that I and my family plan to use to its fullest.
There’s truly no other agency I could have imagined myself working with over the years – the ICA team was attentive, transparent, and encouraging throughout the entire process. Though the journey naturally demanded a good dose of patience and time, it is truly one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life thus far. I extend my deepest thanks to the entire team at ICA – Marco, Ivana, Ines, Tiana, Alessia, Alessandra, Ema, Chiara, Andrea and all the many others without whom this dream would never have been possible. Grazie mille!!!
Adriana has agreed to serve as a subject of this success story and has granted ICA the right to use her name and image.
